


Dysfunctional Team: Season One

by Epicenter



Series: Dysfunctional Team [2]
Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers: Prime
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-04-21
Updated: 2017-07-13
Packaged: 2017-12-09 03:19:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 62
Words: 117,877
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/769363
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Epicenter/pseuds/Epicenter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Decepticons of "The Merchant" look for Bombline and his friends. Unfortunately, they run into a few new enemies.</p><p>Current Chapter: Cleansing the Air - PT 1</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Cortical PT 1

Everyone was at the bridge, standing at the rectangular table in the middle of the room. Swindle stood at one end with his back to the cockpit. From his left, it was Dead End standing and waiting to see what the next orders was; Hook, who was looking at Skywarp at the other end of the table; and Scavenger, trying not to look at Skywarp. Shockwave was at Swindle's right, looking around at everybody; follow by Skywarp, who was counting Misfire's scars (34, 35, 36…); Misfire, counting Skywarp scars from his recent bombing (22, 23, 24…); and Kilshot rounding off the other end of the table, counting his own scars, (7, 8, 9, that's it! Oh, come on.).

"So, what do we know about this guy besides the fact that he's a flyer?" Swindle asked the room, mostly directed at Killshot and Skywarp.

"I don't know anything about him, except the fact that he likes bombs and really needs target practice with that sniper rifle of his," Killshot said, still checking himself to see if he has anymore scars.

"From what I saw on the security camera, the slagger was a seeker, colored black-and-red. Didn't wear a symbol on him," Skywarp said. Swindle stood looking at him, a bit startled. He completely forgot about the security cameras.

"Black and red? Maybe's he's related to Dead End," Killshot said.

"I doubt that," Dead End replied.

"Did you download the footage?" Swindle asked.

"Yeah, I did. I have a data bank in my arm, but that got blown off from the explosion." Swindle sighed in defeat. If they wanted a view of him, they would have to get it from Telos.

"What about your processor?" Shockwave questioned.

"Yeah, but only I can see it, unless you got something that could look in my thoughts." Skywarp said, dismissively.

"We do." Skywarp looked at him like he was kidding. "It called a cortical psychic patch. I can use it to examine your processor and extract an image from it."

"Is it dangerous?" Hook asked, with a little tone in his voice sounding like he wants it to be fatal.

"It can be if I want it to be, but for this experiment, no," Shockwave answered.

"Do you have one on you?" Swindle asked.

"No. It's back at my base on Cybertron, although if you have the supplies, I could make another one."

"What do you need?"

"Here's a list," he hand Swindle. A brief looked and Swindle almost fainted. That was going to take a pretty amount of money out of his bank and there's no way in the pit he's going to sacrifice that much.

"You know, we'll just make a little trip to Cybertron. I can't help you with these supplies," Swindle said. "Cybertron is only a short distance away. We can get there and out quickly before we get back to hunting down this guy. That sound good?"

"It will do."

"Alright, I'll get us heading over there. Meanwhile, you set the lab up for the cortical whatever and make sure you don't accidentally killed Skywarp." Shockwave gave a nod with his head. "Everybody else, day off unless we got anything else to do today. Do we have anything to do today?" Nobody answer. "Alright good. You can go do whatever as long as you don't kill each other." He said those words to Scavenger and Skywarp. "Meeting over." At that, Killshot quickly ran out of the room follow closely by Hook and Scavenger, who opted to walk instead of run. Shockwave walked slowly out of the door with Misfire following behind with a box in his hand, leaving Swindle, Dead End, and Skywarp in the room.

Swindle headed to the cockpit and set course for Cybertron. As he was doing that, Skywarp was talking to Dead End about what could the psychic patch could do to him. "I'm worry, alright. I don't know what's going to happen."

"Well, I've heard stories about the psychic patch. It's been banned by the Autobots due to the risk of one's being trap in one's own mind for the rest of their life." Skywarp frown. "Their's also been reports that people have gone insane from it." Skywarp frown went deeper. "some people think's it just a rumor, but, knowing this life, it's probably has actual occurred."

"You know you're a real ray of fraggin' sunshine, Dead End. Seriously, you just made me feel so much better," Skywarp said, sarcasm obvious. At that, he left the room in a huff, wanting to get away from the emo-con. Dead End looked at him leaving and just shrugged his shoulders. He went to the cockpit and took a seat in the unoccupied chair next to Swindle.

"You think that was a smart thing to say to Skywarp?" Swindle asked.

"I was just telling the truth," Dead End said, no remorse in his voice.

"Yeah, well, people don't like the truth and prefer to be lie to."

"How do you know this?"

"You forget, unlike most cons, I'm actually a member of the really upper-class. It's a pretty well-known fact up there." The radio bleeped, indicating a transmission. Swindle hit the button and the radio came on, letting a voice in.

"Swindle," Onslaught said.

"Oh, hey Onslaught. Contacting us already. Something happen?" Of course something happen. He just needed to know what.

"You can say that. Swindle, please explain why you saw fit to kill one of my troops before you left." Oh, that incident.

"He stole from me and I saw fit to take action against him for it."

"By shooting him. Twice. With a Scattershot."

"I may have use overkill when dealing with him."

"May have?"

"Okay, I did use overkill. Is there a problem? Guy stole from me," Swindle said, remorse taking a vacation as he wasn't in Swindle's voice.

"Did you at least give him the chance to surrender?" Onslaught asked.

"Of course I did." He silently shook his head at Dead End. "He refused, so I had to contain the situation, lethally." There was a sigh on the other end.

"Alright, just, please don't do that again. I don't want to explain to superiors how troops die in the base with no Autobot able to infiltrate it. Understand?"

"Yeah, I do. See you later."

"Good-bye, Swindle." With that, Onslaught hanged up. Swindle looked at Dead End, who was giving him a disappointed looked. "Oh, don't give me that look. I've done a lot worst thing that that."

"And you're certainly restoring my faith in everything," Dead End said, disdain in his voice.

"Hey, we can't all be perfect examples. Now to Cybertron."


	2. Cortical PT 2

Landing on Cybertron was met with little fanfare. Swindle, Shockwave, and Skywarp were at the door getting ready to go with Dead End, Killshot, and Misfire watching them leave. The door was already open letting in light from the Sun. "We'll be back in about a megacycle, alright. Just hold the place down until we get back," Swindle said to the three observers.

"Yeah, yeah, we get it. Now hurry up and go, the faster we can get out of this planetary graveyard," Misfire said, prompting a look from the other two watchers. Why was he here exactly?

"Uh, yeah, what he said. We'll make sure everything stays cool here. Just please be quick. This place is disturbing," Killshot agreed, looking out the door to see the same hand sticking out of the rubble. Thing was creeping him out.

Dead End was looking out at the sky. "I agree with Killshot about leaving quickly, but for different reasons. The clouds are gathering up. A rust storm might be coming soon," he said, pointing outside the door. Indeed, the skies were gathering and the place was getting dark.

"Scrap! Alright, let's hurry up a go you two," Swindle said, walking off the ramp with Shockwave and Skywarp in two with the other three closing the door behind them and going back to the bridge. The three walk quickly through the ruins to the base, walking pass many corpses in such lovely states as impale with a extremely sharp object, cut in half, or just blown to pieces.

The three arrive at the base in about ten minutes. The three enter the base through the still open door. "Alright, we're here. Shockwave, you take Skywarp to the interrogation room and get the image of the slagger. I'm going to check out the other rooms," Swindle ordered.

"And why do you want to search the other rooms?" Shockwave asked.

"There might be other supplies we could use. You never know." Swindle said, and started heading to the Science Lab. Shockwave just looked at him before heading to the interrogation room, giving Skywarp a sign to follow him. Skywarp looked at Shockwave and briefly wondered whether or not to follow him before following in his step. Hey, if he wanted the slagger who killed Thundercracker, he had to make some sacrifices.

The two walked through the dimly lit hallways. Skywarp remember walking through these hallways with Thundercracker just yesterday. Now, he's walking through a hallway with a mad scientist who can't understand emotions who was about to go fishing through his memory banks. Just great.

They arrive through the door and into the room. "Lay on one of the tables," Shockwave ordered, indicating the slightly slanted tables. Skywarp obediently went and lay on it, but kept his limbs away from the restraints. No way was he strapping him down.

Shockwave grab a cord that had a purple tint to it. He took one of the wire and connected it to his neck. Once done, he walked over to Skywarp. Skywarp looked at the wire that he was going to insert into his neck. He was having second thoughts about this. "Um, wait! Do we have to do it like this? Preferably something with a little less impaling!" Skywarp asked.

"Yes," Shockwave said, simply. "It won't hurt much," he said, not boosting Skywarp's confidence any.

"Right, sure. Can we have a rain check on this?" Skywarp asked. Shockwave just glared at him, which was effective considering the lack of face and only having a single eye. "Alright, alright, just make it quick," Skywarp said, agreeing to the probably dangerous operation as he grabbed his head and exposed his neck to the wire before–surprisingly- gently insert it in his neck.

Skywarp felt a sudden sharp pain.

Lying slagger.

XXX

Swindle walked through the hallways. Sure, he may be looking for more supplies for his ship, but that wasn't the main objective. Getting to the console that he stole Shockwave's data off of was his actual reason for coming here. If Shockwave saw that his data was just fine, than let's just say that Shockwave would be less incline to stay on the ship.

He was nearing the lab. He was here and could delete that evidence. Just get on it and delete the files…

What was that?

Swindle paused outside the lab and peak his head inside. What he saw surprised him. They were turbofoxes. That really shouldn't be possible considering all the resources to survive were gone from this planet, but that didn't stop these guys. There were two turbofoxes in the room, searching for anything of use, one red and the other blue. Throughout the search, the two kept looking at each as they search. Swindle had a pretty good guess why and his hypotheses prove to be correct in a couple of cycles.

Suddenly, the red one attacked the other. It took a mighty bite on its leg, getting into some of the wires. The blue one kicked it hard with one of its feet, sending the red one back. The red one was briefly startled, but continued its attacked. It throws itself at it, sending them both off their feet. The blue one was dazed and confused, leaving it open to attack which the red one seize upon. It dive for the blue one's neck and sink its teeth in it and ripping them out, along with some wires. The resulting gash spewed energon from its wound. The blue one struggled to stay alive, writhing on the floor, but ended up dying with a pitiful sputter in the end.

The red turbofox looked at its victim and greedily licked the energon that was spilling from the wound. If Swindle had betted on whom would win, he definitely would have won some cash. With that entertaining display over, he walked into the room and draw his Scattershot, just in case the turbofox decided to do something stupid. He walked through the lab, taking note of the computer just past the turbofox and the deep, perilous chasm below the bridges. He walked passed it, giving it a glance. It was a long way down. He looked at the turbofox. It was still eating its meal, ignoring him.

Swindle arrived at the computer and laid his gun down on the side as he looked through the files. Yep, this was what he was after. Now to begin the deletion process. He clicked all the files and promptly pressed the delete button. A note came up asking if he was sure about this. Swindle allowed himself a little grin before pushing yes. Than another note came up again, asking if he was really sure about this. He clicked yes again, with a smaller smile. Then it asked one more time if he was really sure about this. At this point, Swindle wanted to punch the computer right in the screen, but opted to just push yes again. Finally, a note came up, telling him it would take about five minutes to delete the files.

Swindle gave a smug grin. Now Shockwave could only get the files from him. He was good. At that, he reached for his scattershot…

Wait, where the frag is it.

A growl came from behind him. He looked behind him to see the turbofox growling at him, looking pretty hungry. Behind the turbofox was his gun, all the way back at the entrance. Swindle looked at the turbofox who wanted sloppy seconds. Life really hated him at this moment.

Swindle popped the blades from his arm and looked at the turbofox. Well, if the creature wants to die, who was he to reject its wishes? The two stare at each other, waiting for one of the other to move.

The turbofox leaped at him.

XXX

"I'm telling you, Shockwave is a pit spawn." Misfire said to Dead End, who had a incredible look of disinterest in his face. Misfire was talking to him about where exactly Shockwave came from. Killshot was in one of the seats in the cockpit, looking outside, trying to avoid the dark red menace.

"So, why do you think that?" Dead End asked, humoring him.

"Several reasons, all of them legitimate. First off, he just came out of the blue one day, working for Megatron. Second, he's devoid of any emotion, except probably anger, although I haven't seen him use it, yet. Third, why one eye? I mean, really. The only reason could be to look as threatening as possible, leaving more room for the pit spawn angle. Fourth, he's a torturer; do I have to say anything about that? Final reason -please note that this is nothing, but the absolute truth- is that he is scarier than most people. Seriously, I've heard some vehicons fear-piss themselves at the mere mention of his name." Misfire said, ending his long speech of why Shockwave was a pit spawn.

"Well, I certainly didn't see any vehicons fear-piss themselves when we actually brought in Shockwave," Killshot said from the cockpit.

"Well, the vehicons we have there have some pretty big bearings. Anyway, think about it, he has to be a pit spawn. At the very least, he has to some sort of experiment gone wrong. I mean, one hand is a irremovable BFG that packs almost as much punch as Megatron fusion cannon. Slag, I bet that he is actually a servant of Unicron."

"Misfire, may I point out that Unicron doesn't exist and nothing says otherwise," Dead End said.

"Yeah, have to agree with the emo on that one. With Primus, we have proof that he existed. Unicron? Some stuff that is called the 'blood of Unicron' and that's it. What a bunch of slag that is. Personally, I think it's just called that to make it sound more awesome and evil."

"Dude, I'm telling you, Unicron exists," Misfire said, without a hint of disbelief in his voice. What a idiot.

"Whatever." Killshot looked outside. "Dead End, you think we could radio in to the guys to hurry the frag up."

"Maybe. Why?" Dead End asked.

"Because," Killshot said, looking at the gathering cloud and the light winds hitting the window, "the storm is picking up."


	3. Cotical PT 3

As Shockwave was fishing through his database, Skywarp couldn't get rid of how uncomfortable this whole thing was. There was a cord in his neck injected in what Shockwave called the 'neural cluster,' and saying it was painful was an understatement. It was like someone had stuck a knife right through his neck and left it there, leaving him to bleed out, except he wasn't bleeding out. The longer it was in there, the less painful it got. Of course, by less painful, I mean that instead of a knife in his neck, someone stab him in the chest. Still painful, but compare to the other outcome, he would take it.

Skywarp also really wanted to talk to someone, but would prefer if it wasn't Shockwave. Just looking at him gave Skywarp the creeps. Having him stick a cord in his neck was just a bonus. Talking to him would most likely consist with him giving evil sounding answers. Or silence. Silence was also a likely way for him to answer.

After some debating, he decided 'frag it' and began asking questions. "So, how's the weather today?" Wow, that was cliché.

"From what I saw outside, it looked like a rust storm was coming in," Shockwave answer, keeping his eye on the screen where Skywarp's memories were showing.

"That happens often?" Skywarp asked, his voice a little strain. That cord hurts.

"No, it doesn't. It's the exact reason why I chose this area as my base of operations. Storms don't hit here often. Of course, storms have been occurring more often lately, with each one getting worse as time goes on." The screen showed him and Thundercracker arriving at Shockwave's base. He's going to need to fast forward some more.

"What was the last one like?" Skywarp asked.

"The building cracked and nearly collapse on itself. I imagine if the next storm was more powerful, it could take the building down," he said, without a single tone of his voice giving off anxiety, fear, etc.

"So, it would probably be best if we got out of here as soon as possible."

"Correct." The screen showed him and Thundercracker jumping out of the ship at Telos now. He was almost there.

"Right, so, how was old screamer when he showed up here?"

"Arrogant and foolish."

"Ah, yeah. I saw him on the footage. Talk about a fail." Skywarp said. The monitor was now at the security footage. Shockwave slowed the footage down to normal screen. It showed the seeker entering the room and doing what Skywarp already saw. Check the computer and then leave. Shockwave unattached the cord on his neck and removed Skywarp's cord as well. "So, we're done here?" Skywarp asked.

"Yes. Footage of the seeker acquired. Now we just need to find Swindle and leave this place."

"Alright, let's go find him."

XXX

Swindle had to give the turbofoxes credit for something; they were strong. When the red turbofox leapt on him, it almost knocked him over. Swindle balance himself quickly, however, and knock the creature back. The turbofox was briefly startled before leaping towards Swindle's neck again. Swindle dodge it and let it smash it's head in the console behind him.\

Swindle took advantage of this and attacked the animal with his blade. The blade hit its mark, imbedding itself in his body, almost hitting the spark chamber. The turbofox howled in pain at this. Swindle took measures to make the thing shut up permanently by swinging his other blade down on the turbofox neck.

The blade buried itself deep in the creature's neck, killing it almost instantly. Energon squirted out of the wound in a rapid pace, leaving some on Swindle's arm. Swindle took his blades out of the creature's body and retracted the energon-soaked blades back into his arms.

With his fight done, he checked the computer. It was done deleting the incriminating data. Swindle smiled at that, unable to keep the fact that Shockwave will now have to stay with him if he wants that data. With that done, he turn around and walked out of the room, but not before taking some of his time to kick the stupid turbofox off the bridge and into the chasm. Hey, it had it coming.

Swindle walked through the halls, until Skywarp gave him a called on the comm. link. "Hey, Swindle, where are you? We got the data and getting out of here."

"I'm coming from the labs. I should be at the exit in a cycle."

"Alright, hurry. The storm is getting more angry."

XXX

"Swindle will be here in a cycle," Skywarp said to Shockwave.

"Good. Skywarp, I want you to go ahead and teleport me to the ship. After that, you come back and get Swindle."

"Why?"

"It would be quicker of you teleport us out of here instead of walking to the ship," Shockwave explained.

"Alright, grab a hold of me." Shockwave did as he was told and hold onto Skywarp. Suddenly, Shockwave vision was blinded by a blue light and they were teleported to the med-bay.

Well, except for the fact that they were in mid-air.

The two fell to the ground together, with Skywarp screaming like a femme. The two landed with Skywarp on top of Shockwave, silencing Skywarp's scream. The two were in a bit of a haze as they tried to get up, but failed, collapsing back to the ground.

The door to the med-bay opened, letting in Hook. He stop when he saw the two in the room. "So, back already?" he asked. Skywarp groan in response. "Great. Say, where's my assistant at? He said he would wait for me." A groan from under the two answer his question. "You two are on Scavenger," Hook said, deadpan. Skywarp looked a bit startle and got up on his two feet, albeit a bit slowly. Shockwave, once Skywarp got up, raised up quickly, exposing Scavenger beneath him.

"Ow," Scavenger said, barely online.

"Great job, idiots. You crushed my assistant." Hook growled out.

"My condolences," Shockwave said, before walking out of the room, acting as if nothing happen.

"Yeah, sorry doc. Gotta go now. Swindle's waiting for me." Skywarp teleported out of there, leaving Hook with his injure assistant. Hook scoff at the two idiots, before picking up Scavenger.

"Hey, Hook. How are you?" Scavenger asked dazedly.

"Fine."

"Good. Said, why are you wearing a duck on your head." Oh dear…

XXX

Swindle was at the entrance now. He looked around for the two, but didn't see them. Odd. Maybe they left without him, which, if they did, was a serious douche move. Swindle grimaced at the thought. But they wouldn't leave him here, right? Oh, who was he kidding? They were Decepticons. They weren't known for helping their own.

Before Swindle could contemplate this further, Skywarp teleported into the room. "Hey Swindle, you're ready to go?"

"Where's Shockwave?"

"At the ship." Skywarp answered.

"Alright, teleport us to the bridge." Swindle ordered. Skywarp did what he said and grab a hold of Swindle and teleported them to the bridge. Unlike last time, there wasn't anything wrong with this teleport, as they both landed in the bridge with their feet on the ground. Dead End, Killshot, and Misfire looked at the new arrivals.

"Hey there, can we fly out of here now?" Killshot asked.

"Yeah, sure." Swindle said, as he walked to the cockpit. Once there, he started up the ship, whiling looking out the window of the ship. The storm was getting worse. The winds were coming faster now and some of the buildings were creaking. The ship was also being slightly push.

Swindle brought the ship up steadily, not wanting to accidentally crash the ship. The ship went up at a rapid pace, dodging the wrathful winds, until he was out of the atmosphere of Cybertron. Swindle breath a sigh of relief as they exit Cybertron. Hopefully, he wouldn't have to go to that dead planet anytime soon.

The door to the bridge opened, letting in Shockwave. Swindle turned around at his entrance. "So, you got an image of the guy?" Swindle asked.

"Yes, I do. I just need to upload it to the computer."

"Well than, pick one. They're all on the same system." Shockwave did what he said and went to a computer to upload. Once he was done, he informed Swindle of it. "Alright, good. Now, let me see what this guy looks like." He walked up to the computer and pressed a few buttons. Suddenly, a 3-D image of the seeker show up on the table.

Swindle examine him. No sighs on him indication Autobot or Decepticon. The guy was definitely a seeker. He had a few scars on him, the most notable one being one that went from the middle of his chassis to his neck. On his back, he carried a Sniper rifle. From the looked of it, it looked like a Nucleon Charge Rifle. Similar, but different, to the null rifle Killshot used.

"This is the one who killed Thundercracker?" Dead End asked.

"That has to be him," Skywarp said, with some anger in his voice.

"So, how do we figure out who he is?" Killshot asked.

"I'll send this image of him around the information network," Swindle said. "One of them has to know who he is and if none of them know who he is, they'll have to spot him sooner or later."

"Alright, so, what do we do while we're waiting for the information?" Misfire asked.

"How do you guys feel about exploring some of the planets?" Swindle asked.

 

 

 

 


	4. Weightless PT 1

"So, what can you tell me about this planet we're heading to? What was it…Espero?" Killshot asked Swindle in the cockpit as they were flying towards there coordinates a couple megacycles later. Dead End and Skywarp were at the bridge behind them listening in while everyone else was at their posts. Dead End was reading a datapad, trying to ignore everybody else, while Skywarp was standing at the cockpit, behind the two.

"Espera. It's an odd planet, considering it has little to no gravity. Seriously, some of the land is just floating in the air."

"So, we can just float around the place."

"Yep."

"That's actually sounds like a good way to waste our time. Always wondered what it's like to fly without endangering my life."

Dead End clicked to the next page.

"It's exhilarating, grounder." Skywarp replied behind them. "It's just like what you experience on Telos with me, only I imagine you'll be moving significantly slower."

"Sounds awesome."

"Yeah, Killshot, the gravity actually won't let you fly." Swindle said. Killshot gave him an angry look. "Don't blame me, blame gravity. Yes, you'll float, but it'll be less like flying and more like swimming without water."

"Are you serious?" Killshot asked

Yep. Better luck next time. Maybe if you actual get a T-cog and get some surgery to make you a flyer, than you can do it," Swindle said.

Dead End click again.

"Ooh, tough luck," Skywarp said behind them in a slightly mocking tone.

"How about I ride on you again? There'll be less of a need to hurry this time," Killshot asked.

"Yeah… How about screw you?"

"Oh, come on!"

"Yeah, last I check, you hitch a ride on me."

"You gave me permission."

"You can't fly!"

"What does this have to do with anything!"

"Uh… because it does."

Mentally, Swindle and Dead End took a deep intake. This was going to be awhile.

XXX

"My head hurt, along with my legs, and my arms, and my body, and, well, everything," Scavenger complain, onlining again.

"Yeah, getting crush by the combine weight of Shockwave and Skywarp tends to cause pain," Hook replied nonchalantly, looking over Scavenger vital signs.

"Skywarp's already trying to kill me? Oh, come ooooon," Scavenger groan.

"Get over it. You've had worse. Remember when you fall from a ten story building and impale yourself?"

"Don't remind me. Can't remember how I fell though."

"By your own two feet and your tail. Well, I got good news. You've got a clean bill of health. No permanent damage or anything, aside from the aches you're feeling. Now, I'm going to the Science Lab." With that, Hook turned to go. However, before he goes, Scavenger grabbed his hand.

"Wait, Hook. I got a question. What do we do about Skywarp?" Scavenger asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Oh, come on. Skywarp obviously did this on purpose," Scavenger hissed.

"And what exactly do you have to suggest he did this on purpose?"

"I'm injured because of him. What else do you need?"

"Scavenger," Hook said, going into lecture mode, "in order to blame someone for something, you need physical evidence."

"I'm crushed. Isn't that enough?"

"No, it isn't. Skywarp easily could've teleport here by coincidence. While he does he have a motive, we don't know if he purposely teleported here or not. Without knowing if he did it on purpose or not, you can't blame him for anything."

"But-"

"No buts. If it happens again, then we'll consider confronting him. Until then, stay out of his way. We don't need infighting on this ship. Now stay here," Hook ordered. With that, he left the Med-lab, leaving Scavenger by himself and with his thoughts.

Was Skywarp trying to kill him? Yes, Scavenger thought. He was definitely trying to kill him. Question was how to stop him. Kill him? It would be as simple as going into his room while he's recharging and bash his head in with his shovel. No. After that fiasco involving Thundercracker's death, Starscream was unleashing hell on his subordinates. If he heard about Skywarp's death and learn that he caused it, he would have his head. So, what else can he do? Honestly, he had no idea what to do.

Maybe that voice can think of a solution.

XXX

Misfire and Shockwave were in the science-lab together and the dividing line was easy to see. Shockwave's side being easy to walk through, and everything easy to find and Misfire's being a convoluted mess that only he could walk through without a problem. The two had been doing their own thing with Shockwave studying logs that Swindle gave him as swag. Want everything, do good. Misfire was… recharging.

Shockwave personally didn't mind that. He imagined talking to Misfire would be the equivalent to speaking to someone on fast forward. He also had a hard time actually shutting up. Include that along with his drug habit and that made him one individual Shockwave would not want to talk to for awhile. Hopefully, the silence would last for a while.

Unfortunately, the door opened, letting in Hook. "Hey, Misfire!" he shouted to Misfire. He didn't get an answer from the sleeper. Hook let out a small curse before walking over to his desk to wake him up, trying to not trip over the stuff on the floor. How could he make a mess already? They've been here for less than a day and it's already hard to walk through. What can he do in a week?

Finally he crossed the messy jungle and reached Misfire. He used the one surefire way to wake someone: slapping. The resulting scream from Misfire as he tumble to the floor was worth it. "Ow. Okay, did you really have to do that? You know I don't like being touch," he asked.

"Let that be a lesson to not sleep anywhere except your room," Hook replied just a little smugly.

"Is that the only reason you came down here?"

"No, it isn't. The reason I came down here is to tell you that we're going to have a therepy session."

"Scrap. I was hoping you forgot about that."

"Did you forget that's the only reason why you're here. Without me, you'll still be a neurotic mess. Now, you're a slightly less neurotic mess, but it's still progress. I'll call for you sometime tomorrow when I what you to come to my room for the session. Til next time." And with that, Hook went back through the jungle and out the door, leaving Misfire alone with Shockwave, who was staring at him. Misfire turned to look at him.

"What are you looking at, creep." Shockwave turned back to his data. He wasn't having a talk with this crazy bastard. Just go back to work and pretend he doesn't exist and silence will reign.

Suddenly, the intercom in the room came alive. "HELL- AGH. DAMN THAT'S LOUD. HOLD ON. There, that's better. Listen, everybody. This is Swindle. Just thought you should know there we are at the planet Espera. I figure everybody would like to come out of the ship and look around the place. Whether you come out here or not is purely your choice, except for Shockwave. I'm visiting planets because of you and I deemed that you come look around every planet we visit. Alright then, later." With that, the intercom turned off, leading the two cons in the room. Shockwave gave one last look at his pad before putting it down and heading out the door.

"Hey, wait for me." Misfire called behind him, as he walked through the jungle of the floor like a acrobat. Shockwave ignore him and head out the room as quick as possible. Misfire got out of there and walk by Shockwave's side. "Thanks for waiting," he said bitterly. He didn't get a reply.

 

 

 

 


	5. Weightless PT 2

Killshot approach the console to open the door, with Skywarp and Dead End in tow. Skywarp was looking antsy while Dead End was still reading his datapad. Skywarp took note of this. "Hey, Sunshine, what are you reading?" Skywarp asked him, using his nickname.

"'An Infinite Regression' by The Mourner," Dead End replied without looking up from his datapad.

"The Mourner," Killshot echoed from the console as he pressed the button to open the door. "Isn't he some writer or something like that? I remember my creator talking about him before."

"Yes, he _was_ ," he replied. "He was killed in a bombing a little before the war started. This was his final work before he perished." He looked up from his datapad at Killshot. "How do you know him?" he asked, slight interest coming from his voice. "He was an obscure writer. Very few knew him."

"My creator was a literature and language professor," Killshot replied. "He always had some new author for me to look at every week. Insisted I read them and check them out. However, my interest in art forms, as you can probably guess, lies in music. He was strict, but he'd meant well." Killshot said, a slight happiness in his voice.

By this time, the door had open and the ramp was down, showing the outside world. The place was covered in a light fog. A lot of the ground was floating in the air, leaving specks of dirt clouding their vision. In some cases, large islands of dirt were floating in the air, all pack together as one. There was long vegetation poking out every now and then, looking like they were trying to escape the ground. The three looked around at the area, taking it in. It was a beautiful place to look at.

"Well, I'm going to jet. Later," Skywarp said. With that, he jumped out of the door and transformed out of there, leaving the two behind. The two watch him fly off, before looking at the ground before them.

"The ship's gravity generator will keep us grounded until we leave it," Dead End pointed out.

"Yeah, I got a question before we step off this ship and float: why are you going out here?" Killshot asked, keeping his hand on the side of the door. Dead End gave him a questioning look. "I mean, this place is more like a place to have fun than a mission. I just don't get it." Dead End looked at him silently for a couple of seconds before giving a answer.

"Inspiration."

"Huh?" he ask, a little disbelieving.

"I'm looking for inspiration to write some poetry. I've already wrote hundreds about the horrors of war. I thought I might try something new," hr answer, his shoulders slouch and his grim look even grimmer somehow.

"You hated this war, didn't you," Killshot pointed out, showing some insight into Dead End's situation.

"I still do. It has left nothing but death and destruction wherever it goes," Dead End said, looking a little tired. "I'm hoping that visiting some of these planets can help me write some more… uplifting stuff." Dead End said, a slight bit of hope in his voice.

"So, a emo like you is going to write sappy, sentimental stuff?" Killshot asked, a bit of doubt in his voice.

"Basically, yes."

"Wow, my creator would've love you," Killshot muttered.

"You know, there's one thing I've noticed about this conversation," Dead End said. "You've always use the past tense when talking about your creator." Killshot stay silent about that. "He's dead, isn't he?"

"Look, I don't want to talk about it. Most of our creators are dead, so it's nothing special. I just... didn't see his death coming. Come on, let's find some inspiration for your poem," Killshot said, ignoring the question as he started jumped off the ship. As soon as he exits the door, he started floating. "Whoa!" Killshot exclaimed as he floated through the air. "So this is what it's like to float. It's pretty cool." He turned towards Dead End. "Hey man, come on! Inspiration is waiting for you!" he yelled at him.

Dead End looked at him floating before looking at the ground before him. He kept his arm on the door as he took his first step out of the door. He immediately noticed that it was a bit hard to keep his foot on the ground, due to the gravity. He hesitated. What if he lost control? What if he floated off and into space? "Hey, emo! Hurry up." Killshot yelled with joy in his voice, obviously enjoying himself as he swims around in the air. "Just take a jump and stop being depressing." Dead End thought about all the things that could go wrong if he do that. So many things, but maybe it was time to stop listening to that little voice in his head that says that everything will go bad. What could go wrong with having some fun?

Dead End took a leap.

He immediately floated through the air. He felt light, like he barely weight a thing. He took a look at the ground below him, noticing he was getting farther away from it. He looked around the area. The fog gave the place a sense of mystery, leaving him a bit unease. Could be monsters in there… No! Shut up! Dead End mentally yell at himself. He immediately went back to thinking about the joy he felt when floating. It felt ethereal to float like this. He looked Killshot, who was giving him a wicked grin. "So, have you got any inspiration yet?" he asked. Dead End thought it over before answering.

"I think I have a title," Dead End said, his voice showing no emotion.

"What?" Killshot asked, interested.

"Weightless."

XXX

Misfire and Shockwave were walking down the halls towards the exit of the ship, one not talking and the other unable to keep his mouth shut. "…don't see why some people bash my movies. I mean, did you ever see one of my movies. Oh, who am I kidding? Of course you did. My acting was fragging phenomenal. I won multiple awards. I was fragging rich. Oh, and don't get me started on the amount of magazines I was on. I was on the front page of Cybertron daily news over a hundred times. People just couldn't get enough of my handsome face."

"And look at yourself now," Shockwave cut in. A frown came upon Misfire's face and he looked a lot more depress. His shoulders sank, his wings droop down, and his steps were a lot slower.

"Yeah, look at me now. Instead of looking like one of the dashing hero in a story, I now look like some generic villain for the heroes to fight. I can never be the good guy, now," Misfire complaieds.

"You don't have high moral standards," Shockwave pointed out. "Drug use, multiple affairs, and accidently killing several of your comrades. Not exactly a good influence."

"Hey, that last one was not my fault," Misfire disagreed. "I was just following my orders. I never meant for anyone of my teammates to get killed."

"No, you follow your orders. It was just your incompetence that got them killed," Shockwave replied.

"Hey, I was just following Blackout's order. Personally, I thought he was a moron for telling me to use the machine gun, but who was I to question him. Triggerhappy was dead and Slugslinger was too busy to use it. That left only Makeshift, who disappeared for some odd reason, Blackout, a K class, and the vehicons, who are almost as bad as me when it comes to guns. Honestly it was all just so wrong…" Misfire finished quietly, his steps getting even slower.

"How was Triggerhappy killed?" Shockwave asked, his voice and stance not changing.

"Some sniper managed to shoot him in the head. When the shot hit, their wasn't a head left to recover. It just… exploded," Misfire said, softly, obviously a little shaken by the experience.

"And Slugslinger was killed by your hands." Shockwave said, not questioned.

"Yeah. Don't know when, but it was definitely by my hands. According to the medics on the field, he was shot about 10 times, one of which hit his spark chamber and killed him, along with most of the vehicons there." Misfire chuckle a bit at that. "Why is it that the person that I wasn't aiming for dies and the one I am aiming for doesn't die."

"It's irony," Shockwave said.

"Yeah. I save everybody in the movies, but can't save a single fragging life in the real world." Misfire laugh bitterly at that. "Life just loves irony like that. I lost a lot of people I cared about that day." Misfire said mournfully, stopping in his steps. Shockwave kept on walking. "You know, you go on ahead. I'll spread my wings on the next world. I'm in a bad mood right now." Shockwave didn't answered, and Misfire didn't mind. He just turned the other way and walk back to the Science lab.

Perhaps some highly questionable substances could lighten his mood?

 

 

 

 


	6. Weightless PT 3

Killshot was jumping from rock to rock excitedly, having way too much fun. Dead End, by contrast, was jumping a lot slower, thinking about what to write. The fogginess of the area was thick, so they both made sure to keep the ship within their site, although Killshot was getting a little bit too far away from the ship. Dead End called him on this. "Stay close to the ship. You don't know what could happen if you get too far."

"Relax," he called out in a happy tone, "there's nothing to worry about. Besides, if I get lost, Swindle can just look up my location and BAM! I'm found and he'll come get me."

"What happens if he leaves you behind on purpose?" Dead End asked.

"He tried to do that a couple of times, but he always comes back," he replied, jumping to another rock, getting a little closer to the ship.

"He does?" Dead end asked, a bit surprise.

"Yeah, although I really don't know why. I guess he cares about me a little bit, somewhere in that body of his, although I don't know where. Or maybe it's because I'm really good at offering protection. Yeah. That's probably it," Killshot said, jumping to the next rock effortlessly.

"Well, I guess you better be thankful for that." Dead End said, jumping to the next rock. He glided offer lazily, latching onto to the rock when he was close enough.

"Yeah. Tell me, have you found any hidden weapons around the ship?" he asked.

"No…," Dead End said, a little worry.

"Ah, well, I guess that's a good thing. Just telling you, there are all kinds of weapons hidden on the ship. Swindle's a bit paranoid like that. If you accidently find one, don't panic and leave it alone. If you snatch it, he will know and will take it back by force, like one idiot he invited on the ship figured out," Killshot jumped to another rock near Dead End and landed. Dead End jumped from the rock he was on to that rock, latching on to it.

"What happen to him?" Dead End asked, hanging on.

"I didn't witness it; Swindle took care of it by himself. Said he didn't need any help. When he came back on the ship, he had a lot of energon on him and the weapon. He didn't say anything to me. From what I heard, the guy was found latter cut in to seven pieces. So, moral of the story: don't steal from Swindle. Dude will kill you, and you will not go gently," he finished his tale.

"My, he's a bit homicidal, isn't he?" Dead End asked, a bit nervously. He did not want another homicidal maniac as his leader.

"Only if you steal from him. Do that and he will go all psychotic fragging hatred on you. Dude's a bit crazy in the head like that." Killshot looked at the ship's entrance. "Hey, is that Shockwave? I can't believe he's actually coming out here." Dead End look at the ship, seeing Shockwave walking out of the ship. From what he saw, he could see something attach to his feet and he was carrying something in his sole hand. "Why isn't he floating?" Killshot asked from beside him.

"If I had to guess, it's probably has something to do with what he's wearing on his feet," Dead End answered. Killshot looked at Shockwave closer before he saw what Dead End was talking.

"Hey, I know those. Those are grav-boots. Keeps your feet on the ground no matter the gravity," Killshot said. Dead End gave him a odd look. Killshot noticed and provided an answer. "I've had to wear some before. Sometimes the ship requires repairs and we go out to repair it. Comes in two flavors: regular and magna-clamps. For the ship, we use magna-clamps. Looks like he's using regular," Killshot said, bending his neck to get a better look. "Yep, definitely regular."

"Looks like he'd did as Swindle requested," Dead End commented. Shockwave walked out of the ship and looked around, until he laid his optic on them. When he saw them, he started walking over to them, looking very evil. Normal look for him.

"Aw, scrap. He's walking over towards us evilly. Why is he walking over towards us evilly?" Killshot asked anxiously. Shockwave was not number one on his people to converse with.

"Maybe he requires our assistance on something," Dead End said optimistically, prompting a look from Killshot, "or he's coming over here to kill us." Ah, there's his pessimism. Killshot turned his head back to Shockwave and decided to ask the question.

"Hey, Shockwave! Do you need our help with something?" He quickly whispered to Dead End, "Get ready to run."

"Swindle request that I look after the three of you to make sure you don't wander off." He looked at the two hanging on the rock. "Unfortunately, it appears that one of you already did."

"Three of us… do you mean Skywarp? We have no idea where he went. He just flied off to somewhere as soon as the door opened," Killshot reply to him.

"Of course one of you flew off before I came out here," Shockwave said. He used his servo to click some things on what Dead End realized was a datapad. "He's located about a mile from here. I need you two to follow me."

"What. Why?" Killshot asked.

"I need to keep my optic on you and the only way I can accomplish this is if you follow me," he replied. Killshot and Dead End looked at each other, before Killshot replied back.

"Just to make sure, this isn't some way for you to experiment on us, is it?"

"No, it isn't. Although if it was, I definitely wouldn't tell you," Shockwave replied.

"That was a stupid question," Dead End snark beside him.

"Shut up," Killshot replied back. Dead End looked at Shockwave and asked him a question.

"Why don't you call him on the comm. channel and tell him to come back?" Dead End asked.

"I tried communicating with the three of you, but you didn't answer back." The two looked look at each other before they looked at their communications channel.

"Whoops, sorry. Had mine turn off," Killshot said.

"Same here," Dead End echo.

"Why am I not surprise?" Shockwave asked himself before turning his attention back on the two above him. "I'm presuming Skywarp has his turned off, too."

"Probably," Dead End answered.

"Alright than. Follow me or stay on the ship. I am not letting you out here by yourself." The duo look at each other before giving an answer.

"I'll come. Don't want to wait in the ship. Rather stay out here." Killshot said.

"Same here," Dead End said.

"Then let's go."

XXX

Misfire walked to the science lab in a slump. Fraggin Shockwave had to go on ahead and make him more sad than having a conversation with Dead End. Was it everybody's sole goal in life to ruin his day? Besides, it wasn't like it was his fault. It was all Blackout's fault, that idiot. Fragger had to give him orders to commend a machine gun when he knew exactly how bad he was with one. It was such a stupid blunder that no one should've made and yet he did it. And Misfire couldn't exactly disagree with him for fear of being blame for treason and getting the DJD on his aft.

Everything about that op was doomed to fell.

He kept walking, ignoring Hook as he walked passed him (who did the same). None of it was his fault. It was Triggerhappy's fault for getting shot in the first place. It was Slugslinger's fault for being in front of him when he started shooting. It was all their fault, not his.

Especially Blackout's.

Misfire had reach the Science lab and he pressed a button, opening the door. It slide quietly, granting him entrance into the room. He walked into the room, not noticing a shovel in his path….

"AW SCRAP!" Misfire shouted as he felled to the floor, accidently hitting the counter as he fell.

"Sorry!" came a voice near him. He looked to see Scavenger standing over him. At least, he thought that was him. Hard to tell with all the stupid ducks clouding his vision. "You tripped on my tail. Sorry about that. Are you alright?" The medical assistant asked. Misfire processed what he said before answering the question.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," he answer, ignoring the ducks and what felt like the beginning of a massive hangover.

"You're sure, because your head is a bit dented. And it isn't a small one either," he asked, worry coming through his voice. He had a dent?

"I'm fine. I've had worse, as you can obviously see," Misfire said, giving a smile to signal he was fine. It would look gentle if it wasn't for the scar running through it.

"Well, that's good. One less thing for Hook to blame me for," Scavenger said, relief coming through his voice. He looked at him seeker again. "Are you sure you're alright?" he asked.

"Yeah, never better," Misfire said, trying to get up out of the floor. He was making a bit of a fuss, intaking heavily as he tries to get up, not looking okay. "In fact, I could probably fly around the whole of Cybertron in my condition," he lied, trying to assure him. Scavenger gave a light scoff: not a insulting one. Just one that ask if he thought he was that gullible.

"Come on, I'm not a idiot. I may just be Hook's assistance, but I know when someone's hurt and you're hurt. You're tripping all over yourself," the assistant pointed out; upset that someone thought he was that stupid. Misfire gave him a filthy look before he consider the situation. He wasn't exactly going anywhere at this rate, so it might be better to just do as the Scavenger says.

"Alright Scav, I'll do as you say, but I'm telling you, it's not that bad," Misfire said.

"Yeah, maybe, but you never know. Sometimes the smallest wound causes the biggest problems, as Hook says," Scavenger say, bending over to help Misfire up. He wrapped his arm around his shoulders and helps him up. He couldn't help, but notice Misfire shuddered in his arms a little bit.

"Yeah, maybe, but it's not that bad. Honestly, all I need is a good rest on the birth and I'll be good as new in the morning. I'll just buff that dent out tomorrow," Misfire coaxed with some anxiety in his voice, getting up to his legs. The ducks were slowly leaving his vision, making things easier to see.

Scavenger gave a good look, before answering, "Alright, but if you need any more help, just ask. Okay?" He asked, giving him a worried look.

"Yeah sure, just let go of me," Misfire said, shaking him off and stumbling out of the room, twisting right towards his room. Scavenger follow him, making sure he didn't hurt himself again. He also watched his tail, to make sure he didn't do anything stupid with it. Misfire hit the button that led to his door, enter the room, and close it behind him, locking it to make sure he didn't get in. Misfire headed to his berth, ignoring the knocking on his door. He search the room for his box of drugs, wanting to use them to make the dizziness go away, before he realized something.

He left the box in the lab. Slag….

Misfire briefly considered what to do. Should he leave and try to get the box with what felt like a massive concussion he had or just stay and recharge it away. The knocking on the door help formulate a answer. He stumble to his berth and laid down on it and slip into recharge mode.

XXX

Swindle sat at the cockpit, mentally wondering how much money could be made off this planet. By his estimation he counted that he could make almost nothing on this planet. There was literally nothing of note on this planet except it's weightlessness. Only cellular organisms live on this planet, so there was no moo-lah to be made from that. The ground was absolutely ordinary, just being regular old dirt. Even the atmosphere was nothing special, just a mixture of mostly oxygen, carbon, and nitrogen, with some other elements thrown in. Only thing this place would be good for was stashing stuff, and that's if he had something to keep the stuff grounded.

As he thought about the uselessness of the planet, Hook walk into the bridge, the door giving away the fact that he entered the room. He walk with a certain stride in his step that one couldn't help but think that it was with supremacy, which was par for the course with Hook. Swindle turn his head slightly to acknowledge his entrance and spoke first. "What do you want, Hook? Is your room missing a block of high-grade that you deserved?" Swindle asked, sarcastically. Hook frown slightly, but still walked the same way.

"No, I didn't ask for one and didn't expect one. Besides, I don't drink that anymore," Hook answered.

"You don't drink it anymore? Why not? You're a lightweight or something like that?" Swindle asked. Hook scoff at that.

"I'll let you know that I can easily drink anyone in my gestalt under the table. Unlike some built like you, I can hold it in," Hook retort.

"Oh, so you're calling me a lightweight? Why don't you put your money where your mouth is and have a contest with me?" Swindle asked, hoping to make some money from this.

"No thank you. Like I said, I don't drink that scrap anymore," Hook said with an air of superiority. He arrived at the cockpit and sat down in the seat next to Swindle. "I trust that no one will mine if I take this seat?"

"Of course not, however, if you take this seat with my permission, than we've got a problem," Swindle answer.

"Understand, you greedy slagger."

"Happy to be one," Swindle answer happily, not letting the remark get to him.

"So, nice ship you got here," Hook acknowledges. "You bought it from someone or did you build it from scratch?"

"Stole it."

"Ah, of course you did. This ship's too nice for you to put too much money in it," Hook remark.

"Hey, just because I stole it doesn't mean I didn't put some modifications to it," Swindle said defensibly.

"Like what?" Hook asked.

"Take the engine. I got it loaded with a Ajax P-9000 Grade-B Jump Launch Accelerator," Swindle say, showing off.

"That's expensive… and a mouthful," Hook snark.

"Yeah, well, I just called it Thunderblast for short," Swindle said, with a odd sort of happiness in his voice.

"I'm guessing someone important to you," Hook said.

"She was an old flame of mine back on Cybertron, about 300,000 years before the war began. She was a cute femme, but don't let that fool you. She had one heck of a left hook," Swindle said, unable to keep the happiness from his voice and his face..

"And what happen to here?" Hook asked. Swindle faced sober at that and his voice felt a bit more restrained as he explained simply:

"She found out what I did for a living." Hook didn't say anything about that. "When she found out, she was really mad. Wanted to know how long I had been doing this. Why I was doing this. I tried to explain all of it to here, but she wouldn't have any of that. Next thing I know I'm laying on the ground with some energon spilling from my mouth. She left and I didn't see her again. She didn't send the police on me either. I always found that odd. Maybe she liked me well enough not to call them." Swindle said, ending his tale about here. Hook stayed silent at that. It was obvious a very personal moment that he want nothing to do with. "I never saw her again after that. From what I heard, she enlisted with the Autobots, so she's probably dead by know. Nothing I can do about that." Swindle stayed silent until he spoked up again.. "I guess arms dealer only have one love," he remarked bitterly.

"Yeah, I guess so," Hook remarked, feeling that this was getting way too personal. He looked around the buttons, wondering what they did and trying to ignore Swindle. He was seriously being sadder then Dead End (a hard feat to accomplish) and he really need to find some way to lighten up. He looked at the buttons until he notice a flashing button on the middle console. "Hey, Swindle. What does that mean?" Hook ask. Swindle snapped out of his hazy look and look at the button.

"The guys are trying to contact us. Wonder's what's up," Swindle asked himself, forgetting the conversation with Hook. He pressed the button and immediately heard gunfire in the background. "Primus, what's going on there?" Swindle asked.

"Yeah, you won't believe this Swindle, but we got in a firefight." Killshot remarked.

"With what? This planet is inhabitable except for some microorganisms," Swindle said.

"I didn't said they were locals," Killshot said, before a loud shot rang out. "Oh, slagger. You almost hit me. You're going to pay for that." The comm. line was suddenly interrupted out again with a even louder shot. "Ha, gotcha. Took his head right off."

"Killshot, pay attention. Now, who's shooting at you?" Swindle asked again, growing more impatient. Killshot happily provided an answer.

"Fragging pirates!"

 

 

 

 


	7. Jetpacks Was Yes! PT 1

A few cycles earlier.

Skywarp flew around Espera, dodging every single large piece of floating land in his way. He didn't quite know where he was going, but he didn't care. He was just enjoying himself. Flying was always his favorite thing to do. He felt completely free from everything around him in these moments, especially when he was by himself and didn't have a screeching commander telling him what to do.

It also gives him some time to think of the recent events. Right now, he was thinking about that seeker in the video. Well, it was less thinking about him and more how many ways can he kill the bastard. There was always the classic plunge your claws in his chest and kill him, but why do only that? Why not rip his spark out while you're at it and dismember his body into small pieces; Then, with all of that done, melt his body down to be use as scrap metal to further desecrate his body.

Oh, yes, revenge was going to be sweet when he gets his servos on him.

With that one notion in his mind, he kept flying, thinking of more ways to torture that seeker. Maybe rip his wings and leave him in a room for a week. Seekers had a tendency to go a bit insane if they couldn't fly and watching him trying to fly but being unable too would be really fun to watch. Or maybe he can use acid to-

Wait, what was that?

Skywarp did a 180 and look back at what he saw. The only thing he saw was a hole in the ground, but he knew he saw something there. He flew to the hole and transform back to his robot mode, grasping onto the ground to stay on it. He look down the whole to see that the bottom wasn't that far away, but what really interested him was the hole cave on the opposite side of the hole… with a guard there. Said guard took notice of him and immediately went with telling him to go away.

"Hey, scram before I shoot you!" said the organic guard, Skywarp universal translator telling him what he said. Skywarp took of that, place his reptilian appearance. His pale-green skin was cover in scars and he didn't look to be in the best of shape. Nothing odd about that. There were other space-faring species beside Cybertronians. What was odd was the gun in his hand that looked like an assault rifle, grav-boots, and headset of Cybertronian origin. Now that was something you don't see every day. There was also a strange thing on his back that Skywarp didn't know what it was called, but he definitely saw it before. "Hey, quit staring and leave already or else I'll shoot!" the guard yelled at Skywarp, forming a deep scowl on his face. Skywarp was not amused.

"Oh yeah. Well you and what army?" he asked, before immediately putting a hand in his mouth to shut himself up. Rule number 1 in any situation in which you're facing the enemy: never question how many men they have. The guard's scowl turn into a twisted smile and talk into the headset.

"Hey, Goliath, its Zyglrox here and I got a problem here. This one piece of slag is annoying and won't leave. Care to show him some of the men we got here… alright. Hey, idiot, last chance. My boys are coming and they will completely wreck you if you don't leave right now!" the guard yelled at Skywarp. "Personally, I hoped you stay. It's been awhile since I've killed anyone!" Skywarp, while slightly worried, wasn't backing away because this one aft said he friends were coming over.

"Do you ever stop screaming?" he asked. "Fleshies like you shouldn't scream so much. Can mean bad things for your throat, from what I hear." That comment ended up making the guard frown even deeper.

"Alright, you ask for it! No matter what happens now, I'm definitely going to kill you now!" Zyglrox shouted once more at the annoying seeker.

"Yeah, well what are you going to do? Jump at me. I can fly, glitch!" Skywarp said to the guard. Zyglrox was about to report until he heard footsteps behind him. Out from the cave came 10 pirates, half like the guard and half Cybertronian. All of them carried the same strange thing on their back as Zyglrox wore along with the assault rifles.

"Well, you have officially pissed me off. Everybody, it's time to teach this jackass a lesson," Zyglrox told his allies.

"Hey, uh, slagbag. I don't know if you haven't notice this, but from what I can see, none of you guys can fly," Skywarp jeered at them. At this response, the guard gave a smile just a little smugly.

"Actually, I think you're a bit wrong on that account," he said, as he pushed a button on a device around his arm that Skywarp just notice. As he pressed the button, two wings popped out of the device on his back. The rest of the men did the same, wings come from the device at that backs. It was at that moment that Skywarp realized what they were: jetpacks.

"Oh scrap," Skywarp muttered to himself as he quickly changed into his alt mode and went back the way he came. As he left, the others quickly turn their jetpacks on and follow him, with Zyglrox leading the pack. Skywarp dodge the rocks in his way, trying to pick the hardest area for them to fly around while dodging their shots. The pack, for their part, appeared to have taken a lot of flying lessons and was dodging them as well as Skywarp.

Zyglrox was almost on Skywarp and was shooting even more shots than his men, preferring to shoot erratically instead of in burst fire. Skywarp dodge these and jerk upward to avoid his fire, where another one of the pack was there waiting to fire at him. Zyglrox shot upward, causing Skywarp to roll left to avoid the shots. The shots ended up hitting the reptilian member above him, most of them hitting him in the chest, killing him almost instantly and causing him to crash into one of the rocks and leave his body floating. Zyglrox paid no attention to the recently decease member as he continue to fire upon Skywarp.

Skywarp, really wanting this guy off his back, came up with a plan while dodging all the fire. He flew around several rocks, with the pack taking potshots at him. He kept flying and dodging until Zyglrox was right behind him, only a few meters away. The next shot he fire would not miss and he was taking his time to aim and hit him, enjoying this.

Skywarp suddenly slow down, letting the unwanted flyer ram into him. The organic's body slam right into Skywarp, face first. The resulting collision resulted in his skull getting fracture, leaving him in plenty of pain. Skywarp, adding insult to injury, then sped back up causing the flames from his thruster to hit Zyglrox. The reptilian like organism scream as his flesh was briefly cook under the intense heat as Skywarp flew away from him, the rest of the pack following him.

Zyglrox crash into the ground painfully, as his body rolled to a stop, his jetpack turned off. The alien scream as loudly as he could, the pain almost unbearable. He felt the worst headache in his life come upon him, along with dealing with the skin around his face having first-degree burns. He was lucky that it was only first-degree burns, considering the heat of the thrusters.

The reptile got to his feet slowly, his grav-boot keeping his feet on the ground. The pirate tried to look around, although it was a bit difficult with his eyes damage from the collision and the thrusters. He looked to see no one around him and he couldn't figure out where that bastard went.

With Skywarp nowhere in sight, he head flew back to the cave, hoping to get medical aid for his wounds.

XXX

Shockwave walked across the ground with Killshot and Dead End following him on the rocks floating above him. Dead End was leaping silently while Killshot was humming along to whatever music was playing. Both Dead End and Shockwave knew that tune from somewhere, but didn't quite know where. Shockwave really didn't care about knowing that, since it was unimportant to the situation at hand (or any situation, really), but Dead End couldn't get rid of how familiar it was, so he ask the question.

"Hey Killshot, what's that song you're listening too?" he asked. Killshot didn't react to his question, still humming along to his music. "Hey Killshot, can you hear me?" he asked in a slightly agitated tone. Killshot once again ignored him. Dead End, figuring that more physical measures would have to be taken to get him to answer that question, decided to jump onto the rock that Killshot was about to land on. Once he landed on it, Dead End grabbed him and ask again in a much more… persuasive tone.

"I'm listening to the song "Look at me, I'm waving" by Rosanna. You know that song, I'm guessing," Killshot said. Dead End looked at him like he just sprouted another head and was trying to kill it. "Okay, it's a guilty pleasure of mine. I know how completely retarded it is, but it's way too catchy for me not to listen to it," he said quickly, defending himself.

"You don't look like the type who listens to that dreck," Dead End said.

"Yeah, I know. I can't help it. It's just way too catchy for its own good," Killshot said, hopping to the next rock with Dead End following him.

"Do you sing along with it sometimes?" Dead End asked.

"No. Well… okay sometimes I do," Killshot said. "I know I just listen music credibility by saying that, but it's too frigging catchy," Killshot said, continuing to try and justified himself liking it.

"Calm down. I don't care. I was just asking cause it was really annoying me that I couldn't remember that song. Didn't she support the Autobots?" Dead End asked.

"Yeah, but as far as I can tell, she never went and fought in the war. Which, for her sake, is probably a good thing; I doubt she would last long. I heard she's at Talos IV right now, but I don't know for sure," Killshot said, with a shrug of his shoulders and leapt off the rock and onto the next one. "Hey, Shockwave. How far away is Skywarp from us?" he asked.

"He was moving away from us, but he's coming back," Shockwave said in his usual monotone.

"So Skywarp is flying back to us. Great. We'd come out here for nothing," Killshot complained.

"He's flying unusually quickly. He should reach us in about a cycle," Shockwave said, as he stopped in his tracks.

"A cycle? So we should be able to see him from coming very soon," Killshot said, as he hoped to a higher piece of rock. "Or at least we would if it wasn't for this damn fog. Seriously, why is there so much of it?" Killshot complained once again. He stared straight through the fog, looking for Skywarp. He waited for a few seconds to see Skywarp flame from his thrusters. Sure enough, he saw Skywarp emerged from the fog. "There's Skywarp." Killshot said. He watch Skywarp's approach and notice that as he came closer, more figures popped up behind him and he heard the sounds of gunfire. "And he brought some unwanted visitors," he said and looked at Shockwave and Dead End, who were already ready due to the fact that they could actually hear the gunfire earlier before him.

"Prepare to exchange fire," Shockwave said, his pad put up and his gun-arm ready to fire.

"Right, let's see if I can take one of those guys out," Killshot replied, drawing his gun and aiming it at one of the 'visitors.' He aimed at the head of a Cybertronian flyer, who was flying pretty straight, leaving him open. Killshot took careful aim…

BANG!

The shout took the Cybertronian's head off and he went crashing in a rock, not in a fireball, to Killshot's disappointment. "One down, eight more to go, I think. Oh, and just so you guys know, their flying using jetpacks. I find that pretty sweet and say we take them off their soon-to-be corpses," Killshot said, really wanting a jetpack.

"Opinion noted, but concentrate on killing the enemy first," Shockwave ordered.

"Alright, alright. Just give me a sec," Killshot replied and went back to picking them off. He aimed his gun at one of the reptilian pirate's head.

BANG!

The shot went right through the pirate's eye socket and out the back, killing him. Killshot went back to aiming at the another pirate, but at this point, the pirates had began to realize that there were other people shooting at them now and some of them started firing over at the Decepticons' direction. Killshot, Dead End, and Shockwave immediately took cover behind the dirt they could find with Killshot and Dead End behind one dirt ball of dirt and Shockwave behind a dirt mound, although they wouldn't really be good cover, as the shots kept taking pieces of the rock away. "Hey, Dead End, give me some cover fire while I tell Swindle about our current situation," Killshot said, as he contacted Swindle's ship.

"I can do that," Dead End said, and popped at of cover to fire with his Neutron assault rifle.

Skywarp realize that he was with his allies now and took advantage of the fact that there were more people to shoot at besides him. He took a sharp left turn and aimed at one of the Cybertronian pirates aiming at his allies. With him distracted, Skywarp fired a missile at the distracted pirate. The pirate didn't notice his end coming as it was coming closer to him…

BOOM!

The missile hit, actually leaving a fireball this time as the pirate crash and burn.

Shockwave stood behind his cover, taking pot shots whenever he could, trying to keep them at range. One of the reptilian pirates, however, thought it might be a good idea to use a more head on approach. While the Decepticons were busy shooting at his pals, he flank from behind and walk on the ground with his grav-boots. He sneak up behind Shockwave, who was currently shooting at one of the others. The pirate draw out his axe and ran quickly to Shockwave to try and land a blow before the foe notice. He was right at Shockwave as he raise the axe up and brought it down…

Only for Shockwave to grab the handle of the axe before it hit him. Just as suddenly, the pirate let go of the axe and collapse onto the ground, clutching his chest where a whole was. Shockwave stood above him with the axe still in his hand. "Wait, please don't kill me," the pirate beg. In response, Shockwave step on his chest and brought the pirate axe up in the air. "No, please don't do-" the axe buried itself inside the pirate's skull, killing him instantly. Shockwave step off the pirate and went back to engaging the other, leaving the corpse there.

BANG!

"Ha, gotcha! Took his head right off," Killshot yelled as he took off another one of the Cybertronian pirate's head off. Dead End traded fire with another one of the pirates while Killshot continue his conversation with Swindle. " Fragging pirates!... Yeah, we're almost done with them. Only a couple more left… Alright." Killshot addressed Dead End. "Swindle said to take care of these guys and then we'll make a plan.

"That implies we're going to shoot more. Great," Dead End remarked bitterly.

"So, are you by any chance going to add pirates into this poem of yours?"

"No, I don't think so," Dead End said as he sent a burst at a reptilian pirate. All of them hit him in the chest, killing him.

"Nice shot," Killshot complemented. Suddenly, a fireball of burning metal went right past the two and crash into the ground. The two looked at the body of the dead pirate before seeing Skywarp fly past them with another pirate on his tail. "Well, looks like Skywarp taking care of himself," Killshot noted dryly. He took notice of the fact that Shockwave was still engage with a pirate. "Hey, want to help Shockwave kill a pirate."

"What makes you think there pirates?" Dead End asked.

"The only time two different races fight together is against a intergalactic evil or together as pirates. Since I see no intergalactic evil, they have to be pirates. Plus, have you seen the way they look?" Killshot asked, pointing out the non-regulated look and lack of identification to a specific group.

"Alright fair point," Dead End agreed.

"Great, now, let's go help Shockwave kill that pirate," Killshot said happily, as he jumped off the rock towards Shockwave. Dead End sigh in annoyance and follow Killshot.

Skywarp duck, weave, and roll around as he dodged the shots of the Cybertronian pirate. A couple of the pirates shot had hit him, but they were cosmetic at worst. He dodged the shots of his pursuer, staying close to his allies. He had a plan to take care of him, but he just needed to wait for the right moment.

The moment came as he suddenly lurches up and, like he expected, the pirate follow him. Skywarp suddenly transform back to his robot mode and close line the pirate as he flew by. If he were organic, that would've ripped his head off; however, robots are a bit tougher to kill than that. Skywarp transform back into his jet mode and, while the other robot was busy shaking off the blow, rammed right into him. The jet pushed the grounder-with-wings back into one of the large balls of dirt in the air and transform back into his robot mode and, before the pirate could retaliate, plunge his servos right through his chest and into his spark-chamber. The pirate could only stare at his chest as the light dimmed in his green optics…

Shockwave was annoyed by this last reptilian pirate. This one actually stick to cover and only fire when he could do so without injuring himself. While Shockwave ponder how to deal with nuisance, Killshot jumped right next to him, empty-handed. "Hey Shock. What's up. Having a bit of trouble?" Killshot asked.

"I'm dealing with an annoyance," Shockwave answered.

"Me or the pirate?" Killshot asked cheekily.

"Both."

"Oh, well, sorry about that. If it makes you feel better, I feel the same about you," Killshot replied back, not too hurt by the statement.

"Where is Dead End?" Shockwave asked as he fire back at the pirate.

"Flanking the pirate. I figure I've killed enough right now and would let him take this one. I'm trying really hard to increase his body count," Killshot answered.

"And how is he going to eliminate the nuisance?" Shockwave asked.

"You'll see in a couple of seconds," Killshot said. "However, since I know you're just dying to find out, I lend him my null rifle."

BANG!


	8. Jetpacks Was Yes! PT 2

Swindle and Hook were still at the cockpit of the ship with Swindle prepping for lift-off and Hook just waiting at the side, having no idea what Swindle was doing. As far as he knew, Swindle was just pushing random buttons. "Exactly what are you doing?" Hook asked, a little rudely. Swindle didn't miss a beat as he replied:

"Prepping the ship for lift-off. The others are going to need our help," Swindle said, calmly.

"Didn't your lackey said that he had things under control?" Hook asked, condescendly.

"Yeah, he does, but there's the problems of the others," Swindle answered.

"Others?" Hook questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"Yep," Swindle said.

"Care to clarify?" Hook asked.

"You've ever dealt with pirates before?" Swindle wondered.

"No."

"Well than, long story short, their always lots of pirates around. From the sound of things, they were fighting a small group, probably no more than 10 or more. There's bound to be at least 20 more of them, wherever they came from," Swindle explained, pressing a button. At the press of the button, the ship lifted off. Once in the air, Swindle head in the direction of the allies.

"Alright, so there's a lot more of them. What are we going to do with ship to even the numbers?" Hook asked.

"Well, that's where you come in. Head to one of the computers back there," Swindle directed.

"What am I doing?" Hook asked, as he made his way to a console.

"We got a turret on the bottom of the ship that pops out. You're going to use that to shoot at the pirates," Swindle said. "You're a good shot, right?"

"I'm not the best, but I think I can manage it," Hook said, as he set down at one of the consoles. "So, how do I get to the turret from here?" Hook asked.

"Head to 'Defenses.'" Hook did so. "Then head to 'Turrets.'" Hook clicked that. "Hit the one for the bottom of the ship." Hook clicked that and a view of the ground came on the screen. Or at least there would be, if the planet wasn't so foggy.

"Alright, Swindle, I'm there. Just one problem, how am I going to see them? The fog is in my way." Hook questioned.

"The ship has different visions for you to look through. Just use the circle on the left side to change it," Swindle instructed. Hook did so, and the screen become almost completely blue.

"Hey, Swindle. Which vision is this? It's completely blue," Hook asked, a little confuse.

"You seriously don't know that? Come on, it's been in a lot of action films. Surely you've seen some of them," Swindle pointed out.

"No, I haven't. I don't watch films or anything that waste my time. I perfect my craft," Hook said, a little insulted that he thought he watch such petty things.

"Wow, really? That's pretty sad," Swindle pointed out, sounding like he pitied him.

"Oh, quit pitying me," Hook said.

"I'm not. You don't deserve it, although it does explain some things," Swindle said before getting back on point. "Anyway, that vision your in is heat vision. Let you see the heat from the body. Should be useful for tracking enemies, organic or Cybertronian, although it'll be a little hard to figure out which is a friendly and which is an enemy," Swindle explained. "Got all that?"

"Got it," Hook said.

"Alright. I'll see how it's going for them down there," Swindle said, as he try to raise the others the radio, trying to contact them. He immediately got an answer.

"Yes, Swindle?" Dead End's calm voice said on the other end.

"Is everything there alright?" Swindle asked.

"Affirmative," Shockwave said on the other line. "All pirates are eliminated."

"You're listening in, too?" Swindle asked.

"This line is open to all of us," Dead End said.

"I know. I just expected one of you to lead the conversation. So, do you know where the pirates came from?"

"Skywarp ran into them while flying around the area. He can explain better than I came, but his comm. link is a bit busted at the moment." Dead End said, calmly.

"Why?" Swindle asked. "I'm getting really tire of complications."

"Remember when he hit his head yesterday?" Dead End asked.

"Yeah, I- ah scrap. Hook, when Skywarp gets back onto the ship, you need to fix his comm. link," Swindle told the medic.

"You're kidding! Already?" Hook asked.

"Yeah, you forgot to fix it when he hit his head the other day," Swindle explain. Hook took this with a little 'humph' before returning to the screen. Swindle ignored him and went back to the radio."Alright Dead End, tell me: how did Skywarp run into the pirates?" Dead End told how Skywarp ran into the pirates, culminating in the shootout between them and the pirates. "Alright, so the big question. Why are they here?"

"I have an idea why," Shockwave said, his monotone voice cutting into the conversation.

"What is it?" Swindle asked.

"Near the end of the war, the Autobots had a stockpile of items that they had at Iacon. When we invaded it, they blasted all of that to space. My guess that one of the relics ended up here and the pirates found it. Either that or it's a place for them to store their ill-gotten gains." Shockwave said.

"A Iacon relic, here on the sinkhole?" Swindle said, a small cha-ching going off in his head at the sound of that, ignoring the other part. "Do you know how much those are worth?"

"Monetary value is not a reason to attack the pirates," Shockwave said.

"Oh, so you want to explain to Megatron how we miss the perfect opportunity to get a relic," Swindle said, stressing the Megatron part of the sentence. Megatron was perfectly willing to use whatever strategy it take to defeat the Autobots, especially using their own devices against them.

"Swindle raises a good point," Dead End confirmed with Swindle.

"Yes, he does, if the information reaches Megatron," Shockwave said.

"Oh, Shockwave. Is that deceit you recommend? How surprising!" Swindle said sarcatily over the line. "Look, it's not about if Megatron knows. He will know thanks to that loyal follower of his, Soundwave. He always figures out if something went wrong," Swindle said, talking about the main source of paranoia amongst the Decepticons.

"Soundwave is excellent, but he's not perfect. He makes mistakes," Shockwave argued.

"Let's get a third-party opinion on this. Dead End, who do you side with?" Swindle asked the Nihilist. Silence remain on the other line for a few moments before Dead End answered.

"I agree with Swindle. If we don't take advantage of this and take the relic now, it could lead to unwanted consequences with Megatron down the line," Dead End explained. Swindle clapped his hand in joy at that.

"Thank you, Dead End. I'm coming up on your position soon. How are the other two, doing?" Swindle asked.

"Killshot took a jetpack from the fallen enemy and is using it right now to fly around. It should be noted that he's a crash roughly 3 times already with it. Skywarp is watching him, laughing," Dead End answered.

"Alright, tell Skywarp to take you to the entrance and we'll follow along with the ship. Use the jetpacks to follow him," Swindle ordered.

"Understood," Dead End said. Swindle turned the radio off and went back to putting his full attention to flying.

"So, a Iacon relic?" Hook asked from the back.

"Yep. I must say, this day is turning out pretty good. Lets hoped it stays that way," Swindle said.

"You do realize that your tempting fate with that statement," Hook remarked from the back.

"Yeah, well, let's hope she didn't notice," Swindle replied.

XXX

Dead End and Shockwave heard the click on the other end, indicating that the conversation with Swindle was over. The two looked at each other. "You realize Swindle has no intentions of giving the relic to Megatron, correct?" Shockwave asked Dead End.

"I guess that, however I also don't want Soundwave to hear about us giving pirates a relic without anything in return. Soundwave is through and if he finds that out, I'm afraid bad things would happen to us?" Dead End explained.

"You're worried about your own life," Shockwave pointed out.

"No, I'm worry about Megatron sending the DJD after us. I'm a fatalist, not a masochist," Dead End clarified. "Now come on, let's get Skywarp and head to the pirates' lair," Dead End ordered, moving towards Skywarp, who was watching Killshot failed at flying.

"Come on. You can do it," Skywarp yelled out, chuckling, obviously not believing he can do it. "Grounders really need to stay on the ground," Skywarp said to himself, as Killshot once again ran into the dirt, head first.

"Ow," Killshot said softly to himself, rubbing his head as he pick himself off the ground.

"Yep, you're definitely a master flyer," Skywarp snarked.

"Screw you!"He shouted at Skywarp as Dead End and Shockwave arrived at the scene.

"Skywarp," Dead End said to him. Skywarp turned around to the fatalist and the mad scientist.

"What? Can't you see I'm watching Killshot gloriously fail here," Skywarp said, jutting a servo at the hopeful seeker rubbing his head.

"And I say again, screw you," the aggravated sniper said to Skywarp.

"We need you to take us to the pirates' lair," Shockwave explained.

"Oooooo, we're getting payback? Alright, I'll lead you straight to them. I think I remember where they are," Skywarp said, a little excitement coming into his voice.

"Good, but first, can you teach us how to fly with the jetpacks? I imagine a seeker can give us a few tips on how to fly them," Dead End asked. Skywarp looked at the two before looking back at Killshot getting ready to fly again.

"Do I really have to?" Skywarp asked.

XXX

Scavenger knock on Misfire's door. "Misfire, are you alright?" he asked. No answer came through and Scavenger shoulders sank at that. There goes one more person who though he was nothing but a frag-up. Why couldn't Primus spare him a break?

Dejected, Scavenger walked backed to the lab to search for what he was looking for. He entered the room and started looking through Misfire's side again. He had to find something that would make Skywarp's death looked natural or accidental and not murder. Easier said than done with how hard cybertronians were to kill. Only surefire way to kill one was to take out the head, spark, dismemberment for massive bleed out, or certain types of acids. Not a lot of room for accidents.

Scavenger looked under Misfire's table cupboard and looked through it. It was probably smarter to look through Shockwave's side first, but it couldn't hurt to check this first. Scavenger look through the insides of the desk and notice a box. Scavenger, thinking that this was what he need, took it out and set it on top of the messy table. 'He should really clean this up sometime,' Scavenger thought to himself. He opened the silver-colored box and looked inside.

Instead of anything to help him, he found a lot of syk instead.

Hook may want to see this.

XXX

Zyglrox reached the lair, noticing another guard at the door. "Oh, damn. What happen to you?" The Cybertronian asked the lizard.

"I flew face first into a jet's thruster and got scorch," Zyglrox replied, some pain coming into his voice as some blood ran down his face. "The others are chasing down that bastard."

"Well, you should go get yourself patch up and report to Goliath," the guard recommended.

"I'll do that," Zyglrox replied and enter the base, leaving the guard behind. He walked through the hallways that were just bright enough for him to see where he was going, passing up several other pirates on his way there (one group apparently in the middle of a drinking game in a room he past). The dirt dig into his gray grav-boots as he arrived at the doctors' area. He walked in to see the two doctors, one of them a lizard and the other a robot, sitting down along with his commander, Goliath. Goliath was standing up, making the height difference between the two lizards. Zyglrox only reached up to the middle of the commander chest. "Ah, Zyglrox. Good to see you," Goliath deep voice rung out.

"Hey, commander," Zyglrox said a little uncomfortably. The big lizard had a way of scaring the crap out of him. "What are you doing here?"

"I figure some of my men would be injure by our intruder. Unfortunate to see I was right. Sit down and let the doctor take care of you," he said, the lizard doctor coming to make sure he was alright.

"yeah, I had an unfortunate run-in with the seeker's thrusters," Zyglrox said, as the doctor check his skull.

"Seeker? So the intruder was a Cybertronian," goliath said with interest in his voice.

"Yeah, don't know what he was doing here, but he had a weird symbol on his ches- OW! Would be a little more careful," Zyglrox told the medic.

"Your definitely in pain," the doctor said to himself, but did you get a fracture?"

"Well, I flew face first into a thruster," the soldier said.

"Then you probably have a fracture. You should stay out of the fight until it heals," the doctor recommended. "Now, to find something for the burns," the doctor said, heading to his medical storage box.

"You said he had a symbol," the Cybertronian medic said. "Do you know what it looked like?"

"I don't know. It looked a face and it had pointed ears or something like that," Zyglrox answered. A flash of fear covered the medic's face at the information as he muttered to himself:

"Oh slag."

"Is there a problem," Zyglrox asked, as the lizard doctor came back with some cream for his face.

"Yes, it means he's probably not alone. We're up against Decepticons, one of the two warring factions during the Cybertronian civil war. Goliath, we need to prepare for attack," the medic said.

"Are you sure about this, Scarhealer?" he asked him.

"Yes, I'm positive. The others who went with Zyglrox are probably dead, " he confirmed.

"Alright then. I'll get the men ready and informed Corpsegrinder of our current situation. You," he motion to Zyglrox, "stay here and let the medics heal you," he finished as he headed out the room. Zyglrox looked at the pirates departing from before looking at red-and-white Scarhealer.

"So, I'm guessing we're in a little bit of trouble, right?"

"Like no other."


	9. Jetpacks Was Yes! PT 3

Skywarp flew the skies, leading his 'seeker group.' He turned his head to see how they were doing. Shockwave was doing the best, surprisingly. In fact, he was flying flawlessly, dodging everything in the way. Makes sense since Skywarp remember being able to change into a jet once. Of course, he doesn't now for some odd reason. Never explain why, which was Shockwave's usual thing. Never say anything except what pertains to the manner on hand.

Dead End was doing good, but not as good as Shockwave. He dodged everything that was in his way, but he was sloppy in some of those turns. Skywarp had to admit that he was not bad, for a grounder.

Killshot was definitely the worse of the bunch. Yeah, he was aeons better than before, but he was still hitting some of the objects, scratching his paint job on many of them as hit them. He might also have had a couple dents here and there in his chassis, but nothing too serious. Good flyer, he was not. An excellent source of entertainment as he try to cuss out everything he hit, he was. "Fragging dirt clumps. I will rip you aft- uh, wait. You don't have any. Scrap." Try to.

"Come on, Killshot," the actual seeker said. "I think someone who can move around as much as you do without flying would be a natural at this." Killshot heard his comment and fire back.

"Well, maybe if you actually give me reliable instructions, then maybe I could fly decently."

"Dead End doing well," Skywarp pointed out. Dead End nodded to that as he dodged another solid ball of dirt clump together.

"Yeah, well, maybe you hate me and are trying to make me fail as much as possible," Killshot theorize.

"Or you just suck," Skywarp jeered. Killshot stayed silent, contemplating a good comeback. While he was contemplating, Shockwave asked Skywarp about their progress.

"Skywarp, exactly how far away are we from the base?" Shockwave asked.

"Just a couple of cycles and we'll be there," Skywarp answered. As the conversation went on between the two, Killshot was still thinking about how to answer back. Unfortunately, his thoughts would be interrupted by an unwanted collision.

Thunk!

"Ah, what the frag?!" Killshot yelled out as he went off balance for a little bit. He steadied himself as he looked at what he ran into. "Ugh, I just flew into one of those organics' body! I think I got there blood on me!" he exclaimed, red liquid on his chassis.

"Better your paint job than mine," Dead End commented from next to him.

"Yeah, well here, have some," Killshot said, as he flinged it toward him. Unfortunately, physics decided to have some fun with him and the liquid immediately went back into his face and shades. "Ugh. Are you serious? This is fragging unbelievable!" Killshot exclaimed.

"I wonder," Skywarp mused, "If I start a drinking game with taking a shot every time you cursed, how long would it take for me to get overloaded?"

"Frag all of you!" Killshot yelled at them. Skywarp laughed to himself.

XXX

Goliath enter the communications room. The room was mostly the color of the dirt, brown, due to this being just a temporary place. He headed to the screen at the end of the room where a Cybertronian techie was. "Yes, Goliath?" the techie asked.

"Get in contact with Corpsegrinder, now," Goliath order. "We have some really unwanted visitors coming."

"On it," the techie said, as he tried to contact their ship. Almost immediately, the screen came only to show another Cybertronian whose would give Megatron a run for his money. He was colored a dull brown, with some black details on him. When he spoke, he asked in a deep voice. "Goliath, what's going on?" he asked.

"We got enemies here. According to the details I've heard, their Decepticons," he said. As he say that, Corpsegrinder reacted exactly how he expected. In rage. "Those pit spawns are their right now!" He screamed out at his SIC. Goliath took that sudden burst of rage calmly, in sharp contrast to the techie who screamed in terror and hid crouch behind the console to hide from the captain's rage.

"Yes, sir," Goliath answered.

"Hold those bastards off as long as you can, I'm coming over there right now. Protect that relic and the energon at all costs, got that? We need those," Corpsegrinder ordered him.

"Affirmative."

"Good. Give me a couple of megacycles and I'll be there to kill cons," Corpsegrinder said, as the other end of the line cut off. That's the bad thing about having war veterans as a captain; they always have a certain hatred for certain groups.

"Is he gone?" the techie said from under the table as he looked up from under the console. Upon seeing the captain gone, he got back up and sat down in his seat calmly. "Sorry about that, the captain scares me," the techie explained.

"It's alright. He scares most people. Nobody will hear about it," Goliath said as he started walking out of the room. "Probably," he murmur to himself as he walked into the hallways, bumping into another pirate in the hallway. Goliath didn't move a inch, but the pirate fell flat on his ass.

"Sorry about that," the pirate said, as he got back up, "but we got problems. The Decepticons were spotted by the guard. According to him, there's four of them."

"That's all?" Goliath inquired.

"So far. There could be more, but we don't know for sure."

"Alright then. Tell the pirates to get in defensive positions to guard the energon and the relic," Goliath ordered.

"Got it," the pirate said as he ran to give the pirates the orders.

"Oh, and if they're too drunk to do anything, tell them to stay out of the way. The last thing I want is easily avoidable friendly fire," Goliath ordered.

XXX

"Swindle calling in to tell you we're following you. How far away from the pirates' place?" Swindle asked the other end of the line.

"According to Skywarp, a couple of cycles," Dead End answered on the other line.

"Alright. Quick question, exactly what race are the pirates?" Swindle asked.

"About half of them are Cybertronian, while the other half I'm unsure. Never seen them before," Dead End answered honestly.

"What do they look like?"

"They're about as big as us, come in various shades of green and have scales," Dead End described the other race.

"I think I know what there are," Swindle said. "They are Arcaedians from the planet Arcaedion. Nasty place. Currently involve in a civil war like our own, but is less destructive for now," Swindle said like he was talking about a business. "High paying customers," he added as an afterthought.

"Made deals with them before?" Dead End asked.

"About 20 stellar cycles ago. Got paid big money for it. I doesn't matter who wins there war, although I would prefer it if the current government lives. Much easier to make deals with."

"Any noticeable characteristics about them?" Dead End asked.

"Nothing to worry about. They live for roughly 1000 stellar cycles, so they quite long for an organic race, which means some of them may have quite a bit of experience," Swindle informed him in his business-like tone still.

"Understand. I'll inform the others about this," Dead End said.

"One more thing. I checking the sensors, and I don't see any ships on the planet besides us," Swindle told him.

"Meaning?" Dead End asked, although from the sound of his voice, Swindle guessed he already knew.

"Pirates need a ship. That's a fact. There ship must be somewhere else right now," Swindle informed.

"Which means?" Dead End asked.

"You guys have to be quick. If their enough of them to leave some of their forces here, I imagine their ship to be a lot bigger than us. I admit, I've got some nice equipment on the sip to handle them, but we have no idea what there ship is using and I rather not figure out. Find the relic and get out of there fast," Swindle explained.

"Understood," Dead End said as the line click on the other end.

"So," Hook said from his console, "we're about to make a lot of pirates mad."

"I think mad is stating it nicely," Swindle replied. As he finished speaking, the door to the bridge opened to let in Scavenger carrying in a metal box.

"Hey, Hook. I found something you might want to see," Scavenger said as he walked towards his leader.

"Can it wait? We're about to engage in a attack," Hook said, leaving Scavenger confuse at that. Pirates? It suddenly clicked in his head.

"Pirates. You mean like pirates that hijack ships and rob people pirates?" Scavenger asked.

"Yeah, pirates," Swindle answered. "We think they have something very valuable and we're going to go get it," he explained. "You're boss is currently operating a turret design to make chunks out of enemy."

"Exactly what will this turret do to the pirates?" Hook asked.

"Let's just said that there won't be much of them left to identify them," Swindle said with a little smile to his face. As he made the comment, the radio came back online as Dead End shouted at Swindle.

"Swindle, we're at the pirates' location, but they're in defensive positions. We need some air support." Swindle heard the request and answer back swiftly.

"Got it. We're 30 seconds away. Get ready for a lot of firepower," Swindle explained as he turned off the radio. He towards Hook. "You're ready?" he asked.

"As I'll ever be," Hook replied back a little nervously.

"Calm down. I'm sure you'll do fine. Just aim for the larger amount of targets," Swindle explained.

XXX

Dead End heard the click and turned to his allies. "Give him a few seconds. He'll be here soon," he told them.

"Alright," Killshot replied as he popped out of cover in a break of the fire and took aim at the pirates near the crater. He fire at a arcaedion, but only graze his arm as the reptile went back to cover. His allies responded kindly, firing at Killshot's position, who got back into cover. "Frag. I think the fluids on my glasses are messing up my aim," he said as he took off his glasses and began trying to wipe away the blood away using his hand.

"If you want to remove the blood from your body, I recommend using a soft material," Shockwave said.

"What's exactly is blood?" Skywarp asked.

"It's a organics' life-force. It is comparable to energon except they make it in their body instead of searching for them in the environment," Shockwave answer. As he finished his statement, he saw they ship heading their way, making very little sound. Several of the pirates blocking the entrance held their mouth open at the sight of the ship, realizing very quickly if they don't leave soon, they were screwed. It became obvious to the other pirates that the ship was not good news when it fire on them.

SHOOM!

The turret from the bottom of the ship fire down upon them a large laser. The laser impacted, disintegrating many of the pirates while a few of them manage to got of the radius of the blast and back into the base. The four Decepticons watch the blast as it hit the pirates. It was pretty obvious that the blast left very little survivors.

"Damn," Killshot commented as the gun stop and admired the carnage. He had to give his employer some credit. He has some wonderful toys to play with.

"I believe you guys are good to go," Swindle commented from the comm. link. "You can shower me with praise after the mission is done."


	10. Invade PT 1

Hook looked at the screen in slight amusement. He had to admit, firing that was fun. He may not be able to see the fruits of his labor, but it was exciting firing such a huge gun. He could see why a lot of the Decepticons like firing their guns. As Swindle finished his remark to the others down below, Hook commented as well. "Don't forget about. I'm the one fire the thing." Swindle brushed his comment off.

"Please, I could get anyone to do that. You were just the closest person around." He explained.

"Even Misfire?" Hook shot back.

"Okay, maybe not anyone, but I could get anybody else to do it, like Scavenger over there," Swindle replied.

"Maybe, but he wouldn't be as good of a shot as me," Hook replied.

"I'm right here," Scavenger said softly, hoping to get his attention.

"Why? The thing practically aims for you. It would be hard to be a better shot with that thing than someone else," Swindle questioned.

"I'm just am," hook replied just a little arrogant. Okay, a lot.

"Uh, Hook. Can I talk with you in the hallway?" Scavenger butted in again.

"Is it something important?" Hook asked.

"It's about Misfire," Scavenger replied.

"So, I ask again, is it something important?" Hook said, making Scavenger known Misfire wasn't very high on his list.

"Look, I found drugs in that box over there," he whisper, pointing to the metal box.

"So?" hook questioned, not really caring about this conversation.

"It has Syk in it," Scavenger whisper. That got Hook's attention.

"Syk?" he asked in hushed tones. "You're sure?" Scavenger nodded. "Frag. We're going to have to talk about that tomorrow."

"Why tomorrow? Why not now?" Scavenger asked.

"Where is he right now?" hook asked.

"In his room, recharging…" Scavenger trailed off. "Oh."

"That's what I thought. Now, get the Syk and put it in the Med-bay. I'll talk about it tomorrow with him," Hook said. Scavenger nodded, before taking the metal box and walked out of the room.

"So," Swindle wondered, "anything you want to tell me?"

"No." Hook replied and looked back at the screen.

XXX

"So, how are we going to invade this place?" Killshot questioned the group outside the entrance to the base.

"Simple. We'll go in and find the relic, if there is one. Find a pirate and question him about. If there is, we find it and get out of here fast. If there isn't, we get out of here fast. "We have to be quick if we want to get out here before reinforcement arrives." Dead End ordered his group. The two nodded and approach the entrance, which was nothing but a large hole in the wall. Dead End and Skywarp took one side while Shockwave and Killshot took the other took the other. Dead End had his rifle out, while Shockwave had his arm cannon ready to fire. Dead End slowly poke his head inside.

CHAGGA CHAGGA CHAGGA

Dead End put his head back behind cover as the pirates fire at him. From the sound of the guns, they were using ballistic weapons. A bit archaic, but gets the job done all the same. From how long it was taking him to stop firing, he was using a light machine gun. Dead End stood behind cover and signals his teammates to stay behind as well. He waited for a lull in the firing to take his shot.

The calm came and Dead End quickly came out of cover and aim for the arcaedian's head as he was busy reloading his gun.

CRACK!

The bullet enters through the pirate's head and out the back and the pirate slump to the floor. Dead End looked in to the room, looking for any other pirates. Judging from the lack of fire, it was probably safe, but that doesn't mean there couldn't be more hiding. Dead End enters the long hallway, pointing his gun at the end of the it. There were several rooms that might have pirates in them. The other three stood at the entrance, waiting for him to say it was clear.

Dead End reach the makeshift barricade the pirate was using as support for his LMG without incident. He looked over to see the pirates laying still, a pool of blood around his head. "Shockwave, shouldn't blood be floating in the environment?" Dead End questioned the scientist.

"It should, yes," Shockwave replied back, coldly.

"Looks like they came here with a gravity generator then, because the pirate's blood is staying on the ground," Dead End pointed out.

"They came prepare to stay for awhile," Skywarp hypothesize.

"Most likely. Looks like they might have something important here after all," Dead End said mostly to himself.

CLANG!

"Scrap!" came a hushed voice from a room to the left. Dead End immediately put his gun up at the room. "Wait, don't shoot!" the pirate said, stepping out with his hands in the air. Another arcaedian. Dead End kept his gun up as the pirate as the others came forward towards the barricade to see how this will go. The arcaedian was shaking really bad, obviously scare shitless and was bleeding from his arm. The arcaedian was wearing nothing but some long pants and hopefully some underwear he was going to have to replace.

"Wow, I thought all pirates were fearless," Skywarp mocked the pirate.

"Okay, look. You don't have to kill me. I'm harmless," the pale-green lizard said.

"I highly doubt that, considering you were shooting at us. I remember shooting you," Killshot said, pointing out the wound on his left arm.

"Well. What was I suppose to do. You already killed some of us. I had to defend my life," the pirate said, making excuses.

"First rule, don't mess with the Decepticons unless you want to die," Skywarp said, causing the pirate's eye to widen.

"Decepticons. Oh, shit. You're not going to let me live. The captain told us stories about you guys to some of us. You leave no survivors," the arcaedian said, getting more terrify.

"Only if we have too," Dead End said, trying to calm him down, telling a half-lie. He sure didn't like killing everyone, so he would avoid it if he could. The others on the other hand, not so much.

"No, you're lying. Our captain was an Autobot stationed at the planet Devola. You slaughter everyone there. Executed any one you could find," the arcaedian said, clearly getting crazier.

"Devola? Don't you mean Dabola?" Killshot asked.

"You mean the place I was station at?" Dead End inquired, keeping his sights on the pirate. "I heard there was some serious fighting there at one point, until they decided to abandon it. Only recently they found energon deposits on it and send me, Onslaught, and everyone else there."

"Yeah, I was there under the command of some guy name Turmoil, a real aft, and his SIC, Deadlock. Deadlock was the one who order us to kill as many as we could, regardless if they surrender or not. Nice guy." Killshot answered, which cause the pirate to further relieve himself. "Man, how much do you got in you?" Killshot questioned surprised.

"I don't know, but it's getting annoy," Skywarp replied.

"Tell me," Dead End spoke, getting the conversation back on track, "is there anything here you recently uncover?"

"And can you tell us without pissing all over yourself?" Killshot asked.

"Well you let me live? Please let me live," the arcaedian barely asked.

"Yes, I'll let you live," Dead End replied.

"Okay, look. We found some canister recently. I don't know what it is, but a couple of the Cybertronian techies looked interested in it. It's probably in the labs, somewhere. Just take a left at the end of the hallway follow by two rights and a left. It should be at the end of the hallway. That's all I know, so let me live. Please," the arcaedian said. Dead End looked at the pirate who was on the verge of a breakdown and lower his gun. He wasn't going to shoot someone that pathetic. "Oh, thank you. Thank you-"

BANG

The arcaedian stop speaking as he looked at the hole in his chest. He put his hand there, having trouble breathing. He dropped to his knees, bleeding out quickly, as he looked at Killshot, who held the recently fire sniper rifle at him, a small smirk on his face. "Why?" he asked coarsely, barely able to speak.

"Dead End said he wouldn't shoot. He didn't say anything about me," Killshot said, resting the sniper rifle on his shoulder. The arcaedian looked at his killer before slumping to the floor, lifeless. Killshot kept that smirk on his face until he notice Dead End giving him the best death glare he could offer. "What?"

"Did you really have to do that?" Dead End asked.

"No, but it was fun," Killshot said, without a hint of regret in his voice.

"We should move on," Shockwave said, trying to break the tension between the two. Dead End's morals were getting in the way, and he couldn't have that. "The longer we wait, the more time the pirates have to prepare for us. Dead End considered the words for a second before saying:

"Fine, but no more killing unless we have to," he ordered.

"Alright," Killshot agree. As Dead End turned backed to the end of the hallway, he looked at Skywarp and shook his head. He was obviously not going to listen to Dead End. Dead End leaned down next to the body and fish something from the back of his pants.

"A pistol. Here," he said, giving it to Killshot. "Take it. In close corners like this, it'll probably serve you better than the sniper rifle." Killshot looked at him for a second, before hanging the sniper on his back and taking the pistol from Dead End. "Grab the ammo from the body and let's keep moving," Dead End ordered.

"Alright, Mister Morals," Killshot said, as he search the body.


	11. Invade PT 2

"You know, you're lucky your skin is a lot better at taking heat than most organics," Scarhealer said to Zyglrox as he put some type of cream on the left side of his face, where most of the burns were. "A lot of organics would probably have suffered more severe ones. Luckily for you, I only need to put a gentle cleanser on it."

"Arcaedion is a really hot place," said the arcaedian doctor next to him. "Our bodies need the heat, due to us being cold blooded. However, as Zyglrox showed, that doesn't mean we can take it at higher temperatures."

"How hot is it?" Scarhealer asked.

"Pretty hot. Never looked at the numbers, just knew it was hot," the reptilian medic answered.

"Thanks for that insightful information, Equale," Zyglrox remarked, sarcastically. This was met by Scarhealer using his free hand clamp shut his mouth.

"Please don't move your mouth. You don't want to swallow this by mistake, do you? I heard it tastes horrible," he told him, as he continued to put more cream around his face for a couple of minutes. Once done, he let go of his jaw and stare and the newly whiten face of Zyglorx. "You're good. It's all done. Just don't wipe the cream off and add some more every once and awhile."

"Good, now can I have a look at him?" Equale asked. "I want to make sure whether or not he has a concussion."

"Be my guest," Scarhealer said, as he walk off to the side to let him work. Equale approach Zyglrox, staring at the lizard's eyes.

"Well, good news and bad news. Good news: your eyes are not burn. Bad news: your pupils are unequal sizes, a symptom of a skull fracture. You said you've had a headache from ramming into the thrusters, correct?" Zyglrox nodded. "Yep, probably a fracture."

"Didn't you already guess I had one?" Zyglrox asked.

"Yes, but I wanted to make sure," Equale said.

"Alright so how bad is it?" Zyglrox asked.

"My opinion, it's nothing too serious since you're not unconscious, but enough to keep you out for a little while, probably just a simple or a linear fracture."

"Simple and linear are good, right?" Zyglrox asked.

"Yes, they are. All you have to do is rest the pain off."

"And that's why I like not being a organic," Scarhealer commented. "We're much harder to hurt."

"You still get kill by bullets," Zyglrox remarked.

Crack! Crack! Crack!

The three looked at the doorway where the shots came from. "Frag, looks like they're already attacking the base. I'm locking the door," Scarhealer said as he headed for the door.

"What about anybody else that wants to hide in here?" Equale asked.

"They can hide in another room. The last thing I want is to get in a fight with Decepticons," Scarhealer said anxiously.

"Have you fought them before?" Equale asked.

"Several times. I'm a ex-Autobot. I had to take care of a lot of people who suffer through Decpticon's brutality like the plague. I had to see some disturbing things during my time with the Autobots, but I'd still stayed with them until Devola…" he drifted off at that, not paying attention to the other two, but getting lost in the memories there. The two lizards looked at each other at the sight, before Equale decided to snap him out of it. He walked up to him and snap his fingers in front of the ex-Bot.

"Hey, snap out of it!" Scarhealer did a double-take and stare at Equale.

"I blanked out, didn't I," the Cybertronian said, his voice a little low. The shots kept ringing our from the hall.

"What happen in Devola?" Zyglrox asked.

"Some of the other Arcaedians have already heard of it, so you can ask them about it, but not me. I don't want to talk about that," Scarhealer said, heading to one of the corners and sit there, looking at the ground. The lizards look at each other again before asking a question.

"Can you at least give us the short version?" Equale asked. Scarhealer looked at the ground, using a hand to rub his brow. The gunfire had stopped. He answered.

"It was a massacre."

XXX

Dead End lowered his weapon as the last hostile dropped. He walked up through the hallway, looking through each room that they past that were open. Most of the rooms were open and empty, but a couple were closed and locked. Killshot suggested barging through while Skywarp saying something along the lines of teleporting in and killing them, but Dead End objected to that. The faster they got this done, the better.

Shockwave wasn't with the group, staying at the end of the hallway from earlier and watching the side that the group didn't walk to. They didn't want to run the risk of being flanked so had Shockwave stayed there and killed anyone that tried to flank them. His hard to pierce through armor would make it hard for them to take him down and he could hold them off until the others came back.

The three walk to the end of the corridor that turned right. So far, the pirate's instructions were good. They were hoping that they stay that way. Dead End has his gun up as he neared the turn, along with Skywarp and his hand blaster and Killshot with his newly acquired pistol. The dirt crunch slightly under their feet as they neared it. Dead End, now there, slowly edged his head out the corridor.

Crack! Crack! Crack!

Dead End put his head back behind the cover of the solid dirt wall. He was surprise that the dirt was holding up well, but that didn't mean it was clean. Bits of dirt were falling down from the ceiling and onto his frame, sticking to him and getting through the openings in his frame that will take forever to get out. While Dead End was thinking about the dirt and not the incoming fire from the corner, Killshot and Skywarp were wondering how to take the next group of pirates out. "How about you teleport behind them and shoot them in the back?" Killshot asked the seeker.

"Maybe. They'll have to not be paying any attention to me in order for me to back-shot these guys," Skywarp answered.

"Just leave that to me and Morals here," he said, indicating Dead End. Dead End caught that sentence and asked a question.

"Are you seriously going to call me that?" Dead End asked.

"Hey, it's either that or emo. Which do you prefer?" Killshot said, giving him the choice. Dead End gave a annoy intake of air before answering.

"I guess that's better than the alternative. Still, couldn't hurt if you call me by my actual name," Dead End said, really wanting him to actually call him by his name.

"Are you two done bickering?" Skywarp asked. "I swear, you two argue worst than by trinemates."

"Who does that make me?" Killshot asked, the gunfire from the hallway not bothering him at all.

"Who do you think. You're a assassin, someone who specializes in killing someone from behind. Old Screamer has chronic backstabbing-disorder. Fit the pieces together," Skywarp remarked bitterly.

"That makes Dead End the dead guy. Nice!" he comment, the gunfire rising to its climax. He grinned at that before realizing the scowl that was deepening more and more that Skywarp was giving him meant in didn't take that comment well. "Hey, sorry. Just pointing out, you know," he tried to apologize.

"Shut it and let me look around the corridor. You're lucky I'm not butchering your body and selling it to Swindle for that comment," Skywarp remarked acidly, heading towards the turn. Killshot let him past, and Dead End move to let him peak through. While Skywarp got ready to stick his head out, Dead End gave Killshot a dirty, signifying his wasn't impressed by Killshot calling him a dead guy either. Killshot merely shrug his shoulder and looked away, finding the dirt to be important looking.

Skywarp stick his head around the corner and withdraw back to it a moment later as the gunfire rain down on him. In that moment, he got to see how long the end of the hall was and got to see how many there were: six. And at that moment, all of them were looking at his direction. Good. Skywarp prepare himself, thinking of a spot near the end of the hallway, but not close enough to be seen by whoever was at the next hallway.

With himself prepare, he teleported in a blue haze and appear near the end of the hallway with the pirates all looking somewhere else, instead of at him. Skywarp took advantage of this and creep over to the nearest pirate, a cybertronian. The pirate was shooting what look like a LMG and was pretty experience with it, considering the fact that the gut was burst firing instead of firing off every bullet he could. He was taking cover behind a flip-over table in the middle of the room that looked like it was drag out here instead of being already there. The rest of the pirates were taking cover behind the doorway, taking pot shots at the end of the hallway whenever they can, lighting the room up better than these weak light bulbs could.

Skywarp creped over to him, trying his hardest to remain quiet. A bit odd, considering that he usually charged at the targets with little regards for safety, but that was different. Before, he had a whole lot of other people who could get shot instead of him. Now, he only had two people who could get shot instead of him. He had to take this guy out without attracting too much attention. Once he got that nice LMG of his, than he would go loud. Very loud….

Skywarp was close enough now to get the drop on him. He stretched his claw-like fingers. They were about to get little dirty. As the cybertronian got ready to fire another burst, Skywarp attacked before he could. Skywarp let his fingers fly towards the back of the Cybertronian head, the gunfire from the other pirates hiding the sounds of a hand going through a head. The pirate could only feel a sharp pain at multiple parts in the back of his head, before everything went black.

Skywarp took his hand out of the pirate's head, letting the body fall down. He quickly took cover behind the table and wait to see if they would fire on him. When the lack of bullets started hitting him, he lifted his up above his cover to see the pirates all still shooting at the same spot. Smiling slightly at their stupidness, he checked the amount of ammo still left in the machine gun. A quick look showed about 50 shots left. Skywarp's g grin got even bigger at this and started aiming his gun at the pirates.

Meanwhile, Dead End and Killshot were still waiting for Skywarp to do whatever he do to help kill the pirates. Dead End was waiting for their cue, while Killshot was checking the pistol's condition. He knew bullet based guns had a habit of jamming under bad conditions. While the cave/base wasn't bad, there was still dirt falling from the ceiling that could jam his gun and last thing he wanted was to be against someone who had a working gun when his was crapping out on him.

Satisfied with his gun's condition, he looked at Dead End's scowl. Okay, he definitely didn't like what he said, but come on! He must enjoy being compared to a Dead Guy. The guy was emo to the core. He was supposed to be alright with comments like that. He even describe himself as a fatalist.

Before he could think about it even more, he and Dead End heard the pirates' screaming in surprise and pain. Must be there cue. Together, the two stepped out of the corridor and took aim. Two pirates had already fallen by the time they came out, and Skywarp was in the middle of giving a pirate his daily lead recommendation. The two other pirates were too busy trying to aim at the seeker that were slaughtering their allies to pay attention to the two that were about to shoot them in the head.

Crack! Crack!

Two rang out from different guns and one bullet enter into each of the pirate's head. The two collapse to the ground as a spray of red came out of Killshot's target while blue came out of Dead End's target. Skywarp's targets were all bleeding profusely, dying or dead. The two grounders walked t the seeker's location behind the table. "That was a good way to relieve some of my anger," Skywarp said to the pistoler. Killshot ignore that comment and listen to his music. He wasn't getting in anymore arguments today.

"Alright, so we take the right around this corridor and then take another left. After that, we should reach the room where the device is," Dead End said.

"How many more you think are going to be in our way?" Skywarp asked. In response, Dead End stick his head out of the door and then immediately brought his head back into cover as bullets and lasers came from the next hallway.

"A few."

XXX

Misfire woke up from recharge still having a headache. It hurts if you're wondering. That headache was not going away and he needed that syk now. Scavenger had finally stopped knocking at door, so he figured that it was safe to go out now. He walked over to the door, grasping his head as he went along. He clicked the button which made the door slide open automatically. He looked out the hallway…

…and saw Scavenger walking towards the med-bay with his box full of syk. Misfire was shock at this. That fragger had invaded his privacy and stole his stuff. That was unacceptable. That was wrong.

It was a Decepticon thing to do.

Before Misfire could think about going over there and stealing that box from the pathetic loser's hands, he had walk into the Med-lab and enter the room. A red light above the door indicated that it was lock, meaning he couldn't go back in there and steal it back.

Upset at this, he went back to his room, closing and locked it. He went back to his berth and laid down on it. He had to live through this headache instead of forgetting about it. He couldn't make any more of the substance as the headache was too much of a problem at the moment. If it got worse or didn't go away, he would have to get that check out…

…which he can use to maybe steal the box back.

Misfire grinned at this, despite the pounding headache. He had an out. He just had to wait a little while. Coming back too soon might end with saying he just haven't give his healing systems enough time to heal it. Of course, he couldn't let it get any better either.

Misfire stood up and thought of something he was going to regret. He prepare himself, getting ready for more pain that was to follow. He started running for the wall…

… and smashed his head into it. Misfire stumbled to the ground from the hit, holding both hands on his head to try to ignore the pain. Yeah, really stupid move on his part, but it was worth it if he could steal that syk back.

Satisfied with his pulsating headache, Misfire went back to his berth and laid down, waiting for the right moment to head to the med-bay.


	12. Invade PT 3

Shockwave fired at one of the pirates that tried coming through the corridor. The pirate prove to be smarter and quicker that the last one (who was currently on the floor with a massive hole in his chest) and immediately retreated back into cover behind the dirt wall corridor.

Aside from that pirate, there were two in the center of the hallway, using a really hard table they bought for cover and another one was a little closer hiding in a room. Amongst the dead pirates was one who was closer than any of the other pirates and hiding behind a table. His downfall was the fact that he used a weak table that Shockwave's gun could easily punch through instead of a strong one like the other two were using; proving that just because you're hiding behind something doesn't mean it's impenetrable.

The pirates behind the table rise out of cover again and fired at Shockwave again. All of their shots hit, but none of them proving to be very damaging as Shockwave just brushed them off and continue firing at the pirates. The pirates wisely duck behind cover as Shockwave fired at them. It seemed as if the battle had grown to a stalemate, with Shockwave not budging, and the pirates unable to move ahead. However, it seems as if one the pirates behind the table had a bright idea.

Shockwave continue firing at them, keeping them down. During a break in the fire, the pirate briefly came out of cover and threw something over at Shockwave, before heading back into cover. Shockwave briefly took time out of firing at his enemies to look at the object.

A grenade.

Most people probably would be slack-jaw at the prospect of a grenade landing at their feet and curse their gods for their leck before getting blown up, but Shockwave was not most people. In response to this, he quickly kick the grenade, sending flying to the doorway in which a pirate was using to hide from Shockwave. His reaction to the grenade was on par with most people.

BOOM!

XXX

"Lots of these bastards left," Killshot said as he fired another shot into an arcaedian's head before sliding back into cover. "One less now, though."

"No kidding," Skywarp muttered in agreement as he shot at another pirate. They were currently hiding behind a durable table. They were almost at the door now. They had just made it to the end of this hallway. Unfortunately, the hallway branched into two directions, causing them to take fire from two directions. Skywarp and Killshot agreed to keep hold the line so that they had a way out while Dead End head for the relic, due to him being the best in indoor combat like this.

"How long do you think it'll take emo to get the relic, assuming he can reach it?" Killshot asked the seeker.

"Emo? You mean Dead End? I'm thinking 10 cycles if things are easier on his end. 20 if things are more difficult," Skywarp replied back.

"That's optimistic. I have him getting it done in 30. More than likely, I think he's going to die," Killshot weighed in on his opinions as he fired again, hitting a pirate in the leg, causing him to collapse behind cover. "How long do you think we'll last?"

"That, I'm not so sure on. A lot of them are coming at us. We can't kill them all. We've got to retreat sometime," Skywarp said, as he fired at a pirate who peaked out of cover.

"I know. I'm saying that what happens if emo isn't fast enough?" Killshot asked.

"Let's hope it doesn't come to that. I really don't want my first time back in action to end failure," Skywarp replied. "Although, if we have to leave someone behind, it definitely wouldn't be him."

"Let me guess. That would me," Killshot answered for Skywarp.

"Great job. How did you figure that out?" Skywarp asked in a voice so sarcastic, it bounced off fake surprise and almost sounded sincere.

"Okay, look, I know I'd made a rude-" Skywarp gave him a look, "…a very rude thing, but can you just leave that behind for some pirate killing?" Killshot asked, trying his hardest to sound like he cared. Skywarp thought this over a little bit before giving a reply.

"Only until this mission is over. After that, it's straight back to hating you," Skywarp answered.

"Is that all you can do for me?" Killshot asked.

"Take it or leave it," Skywarp replied back. Killshot gave a groan before answering.

"Fine," he said, offering his hand. "Shake on it?"

"Shake on it," Skywarp said, shaking his hand. After this the two both pop out of cover and began firing on the pirates.

XXX

Dead End was right outside of the room. He just had to deal with a few pirates that were in his way. To be correct, it was two arcaedian who were all hiding behind different cover in the room and if they so much as see Dead End stick a single finger out, they would fire. It was not good odds.

Dead End thought of all the ways he could get out of this mess. Retreat? He could do that, but then Soundwave could hear about their failure and failure was not tolerated well in the Decepticons. Suicidal charge? A handsome idea, but no. Pirates would probably leave a ugly corpse and that's if he died. The pirates would probably do some humiliating things to him if he lived and Dead End didn't like that idea. If he dies, he wants to die with some dignity.

Stuck in between a rock and a hard place, Dead End wondered what to do. He had to be strategic about this. What could he do to even the odds? Dead End took a look at his surroundings. No way to flank them, so he can't do that. He didn't have grenades (which he will fix by the time of the next mission), so he couldn't bomb the slag out of them. Honestly, there was nothing to do against them in the crappy base with its crappy walls and its crappy lights and its cra-

Wait. The lights. Now he had an idea.

"Killshot, can you do something for me?" he asked the sniper over the comm. link.

"What? We're a little busy right now," Killshot said, gunfire coming in through his line.

"Can you shoot the lights on your side that's near to me?" Dead End asked.

"Uh, yeah. Why? It's not like these lights do much anyway," Killshot inquired.

"Just do it," Dead End ordered harshly.

"Alright, alright, calm down. No need to get all cranky," Killshot muttered, more gunfire in his direction. In a moment, Dead End saw the lights go out near him one by one until it just left the ones right above him and the ones in the room. Dead End took the light above him out and waited for the reactions of the ones in the room. All of them stayed where they were and not firing their guns, except for the one trigger-happy pirate who decided to shout at him.

"Come on out, you coward! I'm gonna kill you!" Dead End didn't say anything in return, but just wonder on how to get the lights in the room out. "Come on out already!" Maybe he could slowly take the lights without exposing himself. "You're scare!?" That could work. Yeah, it could work. "I think I know what'll get you out!" More gunfire came from the room, along with the shattering of glass and the room getting darker.

"What are you doing?!" one of his allies shouted to him.

"It's obvious he won't come out unless it's dark so I'm making it dark!" The stupid pirate shouted.

"And you're making it harder for us to see him,"

"So?"

"So, how can we shoot a target we can't see?"

Dead End popped his head out to see the two pirates arguing with each instead of looking at the invader with a gun that was killing their allies. Obviously, they weren't the sharpest tools in the shed. IN just a few seconds, they had stooped to name-calling.

"Idiot."

"Loser!"

"Moron!"

"You're mom is a whore!"

"She's your mom too! And she always loved me more!"

Dead End only stared at the stupidly before walking in the room. Obviously, the two hated each more than they hated him and judging by the look on the gun-happy pirate's face at the last comment, were more than likely to start a fight in 3, 2, 1….

"That's it! You're going down!" the trigger-happy pirate said, delivering a punch to his brother's face. The punch connected, sending the pirate to the floor. "How do you like that?!" the always shouting brother screamed. In response to this unwise taunt, his brother swept the floor from under him with his feet. At that point, the two brothers just started wrestling with each other.

Dead End stared at the two for a little while before looking around the room. The place had a few scanning devices, some easily moveable tables, and a few cybertronian containers. The room had the same dirt interior as the rest of the base. The thing that caught his intention was on a table at the back of the room that had a container with a light indicating it had something in it. Dead End headed for the container, ignoring the fighting siblings, and opened the box to find the prize he was looking for: A data cylinder.

Dead End heard some rumors about how these devices and knew that some cybertronians were willing to pay a great amount in order to retrieve this back. These cylinders had a vast amount of information that range from medical knowledge to stellar cartography. With the device found, Dead End put it back in the container, due to them being very tough to destroy, and carry it out of the room, the two brothers still fighting. He contacted everybody on his way out the room. "Everybody, get ready to leave, I've got the relic. Swindle, you're ready to leave?"

"Yeah, I've got the ship ready to go. Just fly up here. The door will be open," Swindle told them. "Also, make sure that relic doesn't take any damage, otherwise this was all for nothing."

"Understood," Dead End said, as he entered the hallway Skywarp and Killshot were. Dead End dodged the gunfire heading his way and used the container to block some of the shots. Skywarp and Killshot were still holding the line, but weren't going to hold out much longer.

"Took you long enough," Skywarp tensely said. "Let's get out of here."

"Don't have to tell me twi- of slag! Scrapmaker!" Killshot screamed out. At this, the two look to see a really big arcaedian walking out with, indeed, a Scrapmaker[1]. And it was spinning up too…

"Get out of here, now!" Dead End shouted and everybody listened as the three of them ducked into the next hallway as the pirate let loose with his gun. The three manage to dodge this in time and were now running down the next hallway, dodging the dead bodies in their way. The three ran as quick as they could, not wanting to be shot in the back by the approaching swarm. They had reached the turn to the next hallway, just as the pirates enter their hallway. The group continued running and soon was in the next hallway, where Shockwave was stilling holding the group of pirates back still, undaunted. "Let's go!" Dead End shouted as he reached his position and the group leaved for the exit.

The group was outside now and Skywarp immediately transformed into his jet form as everybody else started up their jetpacks and followed Skywarp to the ship hovering above the hole. As they were flying, the pirates were stepping out of the base and firing their gun at the group. In response to this, the ship's gun started aiming for them. The pirates, remembering the first, immediately stopped firing and heading back into the base before it could start firing at them. The Decepticons flew to the ship and entered it without further incident and closed the ship's door. With that, the ship flew out of the atmosphere, leaving Espera behind.

The pirates exit the base again to see the ship flying away, leaving them with many dead and their relic stolen. Most of the pirates were talking about how they were able to lose so badly to four soldiers and a single, admittedly powerful, ship. However, Goliath was think of one thing on his mind as the ship flew away.

"Corpsegrinder is going to be pissed."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [1] A Scrapmaker is basically the Cybertronian equivalent of a Minigun, for those of you who haven't played the games released by High Moon.


	13. Like Voltage PT 1

An hour later everyone, sans Misfire, was on the bridge, sitting at the table. Swindle was at the head of table, thinking about the relic found on Espera. He knew already what it was; a data cylinder. The main question was what did it held? Of course, Swindle uploaded to the ship's database and examined it already. He was just here to tell everybody else.

"Hey, cheapskate. You're going to tell else what's in the cylinder," Killshot asked from the other end of the table.

"Yes, I will," Swindle replied back sounding just a bit smug, "if my employee would learn not to insult me. Doing so would be bad for his pay grade." Killshot took that to heart and immediately shut up. "Alright, before I say what's on it, can someone tell me where Misfire is?" At that request, Scavenger immediately tried to shrink himself down in his chair. Instead of making himself less noticeable, it drew Swindle's attention. "Scavenger, you're looking like you know something. Want to tell us something?" Swindle asked with the most comforting smile he could. Scavenger gave a laborious intake before drawing himself out of his seat and explained where Misfire was.

"Uh, yeah. I think it's my fault he's not here. He's locked himself in his room right now," Scavenger explained quickly, hoping to get this over with quickly. Swindle's face stayed the same, smiling at him and telling him to continue. "I was sort of looking in the lab for stuff that is completely not important right now," Scavenger said, trying his hardest to skip over the stuff he was looking for, although everybody raised a eyebrow that that part (except Shockwave, that eyebrow-less Cyclops), "and while searching, Misfire sort of walk in and trip on my tail."

"Wait, hold up," Skywarp interrupted. "He trip on your tail? How's that possible. You're tail is bright-green," he pointed out in an unbelievable tone. "It's as hard to see as a squad of Autobots firing their guns in the air."

"To be fair," Hook pointed out, "Misfire isn't exactly in the right state if mind half the mind. It also doesn't help that he has a attention deficit hyperactivity disorder."

"He has ADHD?" Swindle asked

"Yes."

"…Who the heck would hire him to be an actor if he has that?" Swindle asked him in an incredulous tone. "Generally, being an actor requires some attention."

"I don't know. I'm a doctor, not a director," Hook said with a wave of his hands. Swindle held his head trying to think of why someone would hire someone with ADHD as a actor before giving up. He learned a long time ago that directors and anything movie related was making less sense as time went by, so it was a wasted effort to figure out what goes through their heads.

"Alright, let's get back on track," Dead End said to the group, trying to get them back to the main subject at hand.

"Agree. Tell us Swindle, what does the data Cylinder contained," Shockwave asked in the same monotone voice he always had.

"Oh yeah, that. To put it simply, it holds stellar cartography. For those wondering (Skywarp), cartography is basically maps," Swindle explained to the group.

"Wow, I'd risked my life for something we already have," Killshot interjected from the other end bitterly.

"No, you risk your life for something we partially have," Swindle corrected. Killshot raised a eyebrow at that. "Yes, the map we have of the known universe is already big, but it's hardly the whole universe. Here let me show you," Swindle said, hitting a button under the table. At that, a 3D image came up of the universe on the table. A section of the universe, about 5% of it, was colored red while the other was kept blue. There was also some black patches in the blue. "The red part is known space that we already known, the blue is the unknown part of the universe that's just begging to be explored," Swindle explained.

"Wow, it's that big?" Killshot asked. Swindle shook his head yes. "Wow, didn't see that coming."

"May I step in for a moment and ask exactly what the black part is?" Dead End asked Swindle.

"That? Those would be some space abominations waiting to destroy the universe." The room was in an unsettling silence at that. "Relax, it was just a joke. No need to go crazy over it. It's really nothing, but some coding error. Age has corrupted some of it, leaving it un-viewable to us until we fix that. I'm no computer expert and I know most of you only know how to do basic stuff so we can't fix it, but I know someone who is. I'll send that data to him to try and fix it while we continue chasing after those mercs," Swindle explain to the whole group.

"Good, I've been meaning to tear their heads off," Skywarp seethe.

"You're going to have to wait a little longer for that, so don't go all kill everything mode on us yet," Swindle said to the seeker.

"Why?" Skywarp asked.

"Still haven't located them yet. Once I do, we'll go over there, kill them, impress Megatron, and then go throw a party. Sound good?" Swindle tried to calm down the agitated seeker. Skywarp gave a short scoff before agreeing to it. "Alright, good. I said that today has been a stressing day for most of us, with all the gun-fights and everything, so I said we all just spend the rest of the day doing whatever you want, just as long as you don't break anything," he said, directing that last statement mainly at his employee. "Meeting adjourn." At that, half the room immediately left, those being Hook, Scavenger, and Skywarp. The other three stayed in there seat, looking at Swindle, who was casually ignoring them and walking back to his ship.

"Hey, Swindle, come back," Killshot yelled after the arms dealer. Swindle stopped and looked at him, flashing a smile.

"What?" he asked in his cheerful voice.

"Exactly where are we going next? And don't say you don't know, cause I can tell by the fact you're telling us to relax as a sign that we're about to run into bad stuff," Killshot explained. Swindle looked at the other two, his smile going down a little bit.

"Let me guess, you notice it too," Swindle said. The two gave their agreements. "Well, scrap. Alright, I'll tell you," Swindle said, sitting back down in his seat. "You see, a little while ago, just a moment before we left Espera, I intercepted a distress call from a space station."

"So, what? How does it matter to us?" Killshot asked

"If you learn to shut up, then maybe I can continue," Swindle bark back at the sniper. "Now. As I was saying, I got a distress call from the space station. Nothing too special about. Just a Decepticon distress called, figure I'll let someone else take care of it."

"But," Dead End came in, as if he knew this was coming.

"But, I got another distress called from the space station. An Autobot distress call. Now, ask yourself this, what would cause both sides to call for help? Most battles pretty much ends with one side completely dominating the other. It's practically unheard of for both sides to send in distress calls. So, the question is what can happen so that both sides make a distress called?"

"A third-party," Shockwave answered.

"Got it! I'm thinking that the mercs are attacking the space station tight now. I figure, if we head over there, we can go over there and take care of them," Swindle explained.

"Well, I guess that's a good plan," Dead End said, "but what if it isn't the mercs."

"They're still Decepticons in trouble. We go there, take care of the situation, and win some respect points from Megatron. It's a win-win situation, no matter how you look at it," Swindle explained. "So, if I were you guys, I get ready. We'll be there by tomorrow," Swindle finished and got back up from his seat to head to the pilot's seat. The other three looked at each other before getting up and heading to their own places.

XXX

"You let them escape with the relic!" Corpsegrinder wanted to slaughter someone.

"They came prepare, I hate to say it," Goliath said to his captain. He too, had the intense need to kill something, although he had better control over it than his captain.

"Prepare? Why weren't you prepare?!" Corpsegrinder questioned/yelled at his SIC, his fist really wanting to punch him in the face.

"We didn't expect anyone to come here, much less Decepticons," Goliath answered. Corpsegrinder scary expression still hadn't gone away. "But, we do know what they look like. We got a couple of cameras in the hallways to watch the area."

"Where can we watch these," Corpsegrinder questioned/threaten his SIC.

"Tech room, but I already did that and got photos of each one set up for you to look at," the arcaedian said and motioned for a datapad from a fellow pirate. The pirate ran over and gave him the datapad, which he gave to the Corpsegrinder. Corpsegrinder looked through each photo. A walking Cyclops, a commando, a seeker,…

Killshot.

"Him…." Corpsegrinder growled.

"Uh, you're alright," Goliath asked.

"Not in the slightest," he answered and showed him the picture of Killshot. "You see this 'Con. He's one of the reasons I got out of the war. This guy, along with that bastard partner of his, Deadlock, and their CO, Turmoil, slaughter all of my men on Devola. They did it ruthlessly and without mercy. I've wanted revenge on these guys for a long time…." Corpsegrinder stopped paying attention to what's around him and started thinking about Devola. So many dead….

"Sir?" Goliath asked. Corpsegrinder snapped out of his reverie and looked at his SIC before giving orders.

"Mine the rest of the energon and report back to the ship with everyone once you're done. After this, we're chasing after them."


	14. Like Voltage PT 2

Talos Four, City 17, Periphery Heights, Moscow hotel, nighttime

Cooldown was on the 23rd floor, walking through the halls towards his and Warmup's room. A couple of days ago, Bombline had brought them here to get the money from their employer and left to meet him as soon as they arrive on the planet, leaving them to fend for themselves for a little while. He had given them instructions to wait here at the hotel while he was getting money from the job. He later said that he wouldn't be with them for a little while longer as he had made a deal with their employer for another job and was making arrangements for the job.

This was a little annoying for Cooldown, but he got over it quickly. He and Warmup went to this fancy hotel and wait for him to get back. Cooldown had gone out a little while to explore the area for anything of interest. So far, the only thing worth noting was the bars, the arena where a concert was for Rosanna, with poster on the arena walls (Hey, Look at me, I'm waving; I'm in need of saving), and the capitol building nearby where Metalhawk was. He had just gotten back from exploring the area and was coming in to recharge for the night.

He had reached the door and opened it to let himself inside. It opened, showing his room. In it were two berths on the right side of the room and a table on the far wall. Om the left was a single large-screen TV with two cabinets to the left of it, holding energon and various other substances. TO go along with that, a unexpected guess was sitting at the table.

"Hello, Cooldown," Bombline said to the cyan grounder. Cooldown gave a momentarily look of surprise before switching to a casual smile.

"Hey there, Bombline. The deal went good I'm guessing," Cooldown said to his friend.

"50,000 shanix added to our account seems like a good deal, although I'm not here to talk about that," he answered, getting up and giving a look around the room. "Tell me, where's Warmup?" he asked.

"I don't know. He was here when I'd last saw him," Cooldown replied. Bombline frown at that. "But I could give him a call and see where he is," Cooldown said to call him down, bringing a communicator out. "Just give me a second." Cooldown pressed some buttons on the device, trying to get Warmup. It took a few seconds before an answer music and a voice came from it. The music was some extremely poppy synths while the voice sounded like some high-pitch harpy singing, instantly giving pain into the other two mercenary's hearing.

Hey, look at me, I'm waving.  
I am in need of some saving.  
I can't help looking at you.  
I got this ticket here for two.

"Hey, Coolly, what's up," Warmup voice pierce through singing, letting the two hear him.

"Warmup, where in the pit are you and why don't you sound like you're in pain," Cooldown asked his twin.

"I'm at the arena, watching Rosanna shake those find hips around," Warmup said, lust dripping from his voice. "I wonder how much she buffers those."

Hey come here, I want to share something  
I want to show you where it all begun  
Me and you, hanging around at this special place  
Where me and you can go at our own pace

"Get your head out of the gutter and come to the hotel," Bombline shouted to the crimson grounder.

"Oh, Bomby, you're there. What's up, man?" Warmup asked the jet.

"We got a job and want to inform you about it, so come over here right now instead of watching that pop-star move around," Bombline told the car.

"You wouldn't be saying that if you watch her move around right now. Damn…." Warmup said, getting more and more attracted to the singer.

I want to go to a place where we can be safe  
A place where we can live without strafe  
A world we can just lay around  
Where love and happiness abounds

"I swear, those lyrics are the epitome of cheese," Cooldown said.

"I don't care. Look, I'll be there once the concert's over, alright?" Warmup told them.

"Ugh, fine. Don't do anything stupid, alright?" Cooldown told his twin.

"You got it," Warmup said.

Hey, look at me, I'm waving  
I am in need of- He hung up.

"You were too nice to him," Bombline said to Cooldown.

"What do you expect, he's my twin. Besides, he's allowed some fine every now and then," Cooldown defended Warmup.

"I would agree, if it wasn't for the fact we're leaving tomorrow," Bombline said.

"Oh, well then, sorry," Cooldown said, sincerity somewhere else right now.

"Ugh, never mind. I'll just explain it right now to you," Bombline said as he went t take a seat the table in the room. He motion for Cooldown to come sit down as well. He agreed, taking a seat opposite of Bombline. "Alright, you know that ship we ran into on Cybertron?" A shake of the head yes. "Well, our employer knows the captain of the ship. He a Decepticon called Swindle."

"I've heard of him," Cooldown interjected. "He's a black marker dealer, right?"

"Correct. The guy has been on dealer since before the war begun, building up a web of connections to use to help him wheel and deal. He has many allies, but few actual friends."

"A bit of a loner," Cooldown said.

"Right. The guy is captain of the ship, "The Merchant," and uses it to move around the universe and carry cargo. Our job is to either capture him or kill him, and bring him to the employer. Bring him alive will give us a substantially higher pay than killing him."

"How much?"

"250,000 shanix alive. 100,000 dead." Cooldown gave a double take at that.

"You're serious?" he questioned unbelievably.

"Yes, I am," Bombline confirmed.

"Damn, that's a lot of shanix." Cooldown gave Bombline a serious looked. "What did Swindle do to piss him off this much?"

"I don't know. He's a arms dealer. He's bound to make some people mad," Bombline hypothesize.

"Good point. So when will we leave tomorrow?" the car asked the jet.

"As earliest as we can. I would rest as much as you can before we leave," he informed him as he got up from the seat. "You can informed you twin about all of this when he gets here. Until then, I'm going to my room. Later," Bombline said, as he exited the room, leaving Cooldown to himself.

Now by himself, he thought briefly about this Swindle character. A black market dealer was a potentially dangerous person and could be hard to find. What did he do to get the employer this mad to send a strikingly high price on his head? With all of these thoughts in his head, he got up to the left cabinet and opened it up. He looked at the carious liquids before picking his poison: Sweet Dream Fuel. Alright, not that poisonous.

He picked up a couple of glassed from it and close the cabinet. He went back to the table and set the stuff down. He opened the bottle of Sweet Dreams Fuel and pour some in the two glasses, before setting it back down and sit down, holding a glass in his hand, waiting for Warmup to come back.

XXX

The Merchant

"There, all done. You're internal comm. should be working properly now," Hook said to Skywarp.

"Finally, took you long enough. Any longer and I would've been punching you in the face," Skywarp aspirated.

"You know it's not a good idea to threaten you're medic who a perfect job at fixing you," Hook threaten.

"If you were perfect the first time, I wouldn't be having comm. problems in the first place," Skywarp fired back at the Constructicon.

"Shut up and get out of here," Hook told the annoying Seeker.

"Alright, you purple-and-green monstrosity," Skywarp said as he headed for the door. Hook wanted to give the disrespectful punk a swift kick in the aft for the comment, but chose not to. It would be unwise to make rivalries on this ship. Skywarp opened the door and walked out, bumping into his fellow flyer in the process.

"Watch where you're going you idiot," Skywarp said to Misfire before walking away. Misfire, in response, gave him a strongly symbolic and meaningful middle finger. Skywarp didn't see this and kept walking away. Misfire watched him go before he entered the room. Inside, Hook was cleaning his equipment. Scavenger was nowhere to be found.

"Hey there, Hook. Can you come look at mine head?" Misfire asked the doctor. Hook responded by motioning with a flick of his hand to take a seat at the table. Misfire abided by sitting at the table. He looked around the room, looking for his batch of syk.

"So, you trip over's Scavenger's tail and hurt your head, correct?" Hook said, approaching the flyer.

"Yeah, see this dent? I think something important was hurt there," Misfire told his doctor.

"A dent, that's it? I swear, some people complain about the stupidest thing," Hook bemoaned.

"Hey, Scavenger was the one who wanted me to come here, not me," Misfire explained.

"Of course he did. He's all worry that a single injury could lead to the end of someone's life if we're not quick enough. Bah!" Hook said, earning a look from Misfire. "What?"

"I've never heard someone say that," Misfire answered.

"What?" Hook wondered.

"That sound. Bah! I've always seen it written down, never said out loud," Misfire explained.

"Oh, for the love of- Okay, look, take this," he said, handing him a device. "This is a buffer, use it to buff that dent out. Shouldn't be too hard," Hook ordered him.

"Alright, thanks for telling me that, even though I'd already knew that," Misfire said, observing the buffer.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Just give it back to me after you're done with it," Hook said. At that comment, Misfire optics got a little wider. He was holding Hook's buffer….

"Okay, ew. Take it back," Misfire said to the medic, holding it out so he could take it back.

"Oh, don't be a protoform who's just learned to speak. I clean it often enough," Hook reassured the jet. At the end of that comment, his communicator beeped. He got it out and analysis it. "Oh, you got to be kidding me…." He looked at the jet. "Scavenger got himself in a bit of trouble in the cargo hold. Something along the lines being in mortal danger from something called a Kremzeek." Misfire looked confuse. "Yeah, I don't know either. Apparently, his reactions too it are 'It's killing me!" to 'It's ticking me! Make it stop!' Misfire face got even more confused.

"And I thought I imagine some crazy stuff," Misfire said.

"Yeah, you go do whatever. I'll go make sure he's okay," Hook said, as he exited the room, leaving Misfire to himself. Misfire waited until the door closed, before springing into action and begin searching the room for his drugs. They had to stash it somewhere in here. Misfire checked the cabinets first.

Nothing.

He checked the drawers.

Nothing.

He checked under the desks.

Nothing.

Cursing at Primus, he wondered where the heck those drugs could be. He sat in the chair behind the desk, thinking about. He gaze lifelessly at the room, not reacting to anything. Just looking around at the room, wondering where those drugs we-

Wait. There was something under the table. Misfire went over there and looked under the table. The box was there. The junkie grabbed the box and opened it up.

His precious syk.

His prize in hand, he got and headed out of the room. Today was looking to be a good day.


	15. Like Voltage PT 3

Warmup hung up and concentrated on Rosanne moving performance. Very moving performance. She moved all across the stage, inspiring the people around her to sing along with her in her pink getup. Warmup had to admit that he was also considering singing along with her. It was very convincing…

Let's go out together  
We're birds of a feather  
No one else exist but us  
I call that a plus

…until he heard those lyrics. Ugh. Couldn't she sing about something besides romance. Also, what in the pit does 'birds of a feather' mean. He knows what birds are (comes with fighting on other planets), but he never heard the term before. Ugh.

Come on now, let's explore the berth  
It's not just my turf  
We can practice some plug-and-play  
Let's quit this stupid naiveté

Double UGH! No double yeah for her. What in the heck was 'plug-and-play?' Is it a wrestling move? Is it some forbidden technique? Or, quite possibly, was it some stupid term she made up? All these thoughts enter Warmup's mind as she kept spouting out insipid lyrics. He was honestly considering leaving. Yeah, she was pretty good-looking, but that didn't mean he didn't know bad lyrics when he heard it. Of course, he could pass the time by doing something else.

He scanned the area. Lots of people around the area, most of them mechs wanting to get in a room alone with her. Some of them were femmes, who also wanted to get in a room alone with her. Not many people here who were not interested in the events at hand here.

Except for one particular femme nearby.

"You suck. Get out of here, you talentless glitch in the system!" Oh yeah, there was someone here who kinda agree with him. Yeah, the singer was a waste of time listening, but not a waste of time alone somewhere private. Warmup gaze at the insulting femme. She had a small, thin stature and a slick design. Green was her color with no other color adorning here except regular grey metal around certain parts of her body. She kept yelling about how horrible Rosanne was, although it was mostly drown out by the even louder screaming from the crowds. Warmup couldn't help but smile at her fury for hating this music. "Leave the place before I set fire to it!" Perhaps a little too much fury.

"You're alright? You seem a little crazy!" Warmup attemted to ask the motorcycle, but was meant with ignorance as she kept screaming at the pop-star. Warmup gave a low groaned before taking a hold of her. "Calm down. The lyrics may be bad and the music is cheesy, but looking at her isn't too bad," Warmup said, trying to calm the streaking femme down. This work as well as expected.

"Don't you see the horribleness of the music? She has to be stop! It's an affront to all kind!" She yelled at the suffering car. Warmup gave a slight groan before continuing on.

"Yeah, I do see the horribleness. I just said it, but you're not listening to me. If you just calm down and-

CLANK!

Warmup felt a pain in his face as the femme punched him. "Screw you! You obviously only care for her body and useless to me," The hot temper femme said. Warmup recovered quickly from that slap and glare at his assaulter.

"Okay, first off, what's your name? I want to know the name on the person whose face I'm about to punch in," Warmup asked the physical femme.

"It's Echostar, loser!" she yelled out, getting into a fighting position.

"Isn't that cute," Warmup taunted.

"Shut up!" she yelled back.

"Uh-hum," someone said to the side. Both of them turn to see a brown-and-purple mech with red eyes of a normal stature who looked to be a flyer and had a pistol in his hand. "It's obvious that you two are causing a disturbance, so I ask that you leave right now, unless of course you want to give me a reason for discharging my gun," the mech said, his finger on the trigger.

"Hey, I'm doing nothing wrong here. She's the one who attack me!" Warmup said to the mech.

"You want to said that again, you punk!" the femme replied to his comment, taking a step forward.

"Um, yeah, since you're blind. You attack me first, you crazy glitch!" he retorted, taking a step forward.

"Oh, it's not my fault that you're an idiot who cares only for body type instead of the incredibly bad music playing here!" She answered back, getting closer to the music dumb.

"Both of you shut it! Now!" the mech yelled at the two, silencing them. "Alright, I'm only going to say this once. Follow me or I start shooting, got it?" The silence from the two answer his question. "Great, this way," he said. "Geez, I can't believe I've gone from a Senate enforcer to this," he added under his breath. He lead them away from the crowd to outside the arena without incident. The guard said "And stay out!" before heading back in, saying something along the lines of getting a drink, leaving the bickering couple outside.

"Well," Echostar muttered, "this sucks."

"Tell me about it," Warmup agreed.

"Screw you. You're the reason I'm out here in the first place. If it wasn't for you, I would be in there telling everybody about her awful music instead of being out here with some plug-and-play addict."

"There's that term again. What does it mean?" Warmup asked to the femme.

"Look it up yourself, aft!" Echostar replied before transforming and driving off, leaving the mercenary by himself.

"Smooth moves, idiot," he chastised himself before transforming and driving in the opposite direction to the hotel.

XXX

The Merchant

Hook arrived at the cargo hold. The first thing he noticed was that everything was organized in neat order. Weapons, supplies, etc. were split into different sections, and the items in those sections were further section off into more sections, making everything neat and tidy. Swindle may be a bit sleazy, but he was organized.

Oh, and Scavenger was being chased around by a little, yellow… thing. Honestly, Hook had no idea what it was. It just looked like someone took a flame and attach appendages to it. It was kind of freaking Hook out a little bit. Scavenger was more than a little bit freaked out. "Hook, you're finally here! Help me! It won't quit shocking me!" Scavenger yelled out to Hook. Hook watched the two run around for a little bit before bringing his communicator out.

"Yeah, I'll get right on that, right after I called Swindle," he said, as he got Swindle to answer.

"Swindle here, what do you need?" he asked the medic.

"Uh, yeah. We got something in the cargo out here called a Kremzeek and-"

"It's out! Why is it out!?" Swindle yelled at Hook.

"I don't know. Just tell me how to contain the damn thing," Hook said to Swindle.

"Is there a rubber box there?" Swindle asked.

"Hold on, give me a sec," he told Swindle. "Hey Scavenger, is there a rubber box somewhere?"

"Yeah, it should be over there next to the weapo- OUCH! It shocked me again!" Scavenger shouted out loud.

"That's a yes," Hook said to Swindle.

"Alright. Get it and put the Kremzeek in it," Swindle ordered him. "And don't hurt him. Seriously, don't. You won't live long once I get my hands on you if it's hurt," Swindle threaten.

"You care about it that much?" Hook asked.

"No, I don't. It's just that, uh, I have a client who wants one and he's paying a large sum for it," Swindle 'clarified.'

"Alright, if you said so," Hook said in a manner that he didn't believe Swindle for one second. "Good-bye, Swindle." He hung up and looked at Scavenger still being shock and chased by the Kremzeek. He let out a groan before heading for the rubber box.

XXX

Swindle looked at the communicator before placing it back. Killshot gaze at him from the seat next to him in the cockpit. Dead End was sitting at a chair on the bridge reading something, but was having his reading disturbed by the conversation between Swindle and Hook. After Swindle hung up, he asked him, "Didn't you said at one point that you didn't trade organism?" Dead End asked.

"I'm not planning on trading him. He like… a pet," Swindle replied.

"That you keep in the cargo gold," Killshot snarked right next to him.

"Oh, shut it," Swindle told him.

"Exactly where did you get one?" Dead End asked.

"I visited a planet. After getting off a planet, I found it in the cargo hold. I capture it and planned on selling it. However, the damned the thing gave me the cutest face possible, almost as if it was begging me not to sell him. I eventually consented. Space gets very lonely when you're by yourself," Swindle said, telling the cut-and-dried version of events.

"Wow, I was expecting more carnage," Killshot replied next to him.

"You thought wrong, now shut up," Swindle told him.

"Alright, just one question: exactly what is a Kremzeek?" Killshot asked.

"A Kremzeek is a being of pure energy. It can shock you, fry you, and kill you, if given enough time. Luckily, they're more mischievous than cold-blooded killers," Swindle explain.

"Ah, so Hook and Scavenger will be okay, right?" Killshot asked.

"Oh yeah, they probably will be. They'll just be very pissed."

XXX

"Get back here you little bastard!" Hook screamed at the Kremzeek. Said bastard was dodging every swipe that Hook was giving him and was making weird noises with his mouth. Hook swore that it was taunting him. Scavenger was standing off to the side, watching Hook fail miserably. The two were running around the room, in what appear to be a never-ending cycle. Hook dodges, Kremzeek dodges, repeat ad nausem. It continued, not changing at all.

Until the Kremzeek got a little too close to Scavenger.

The Kremzeek jumped and landed right on Scavenger's face and shocked him. The amount of volts he poured in him was enough to get Scavenger to make a loud scream of agony that would make Overlord smile. Scavenger started running around with the little ball of energy covering his face and shocking him in random intervals of pain. Hook watched this in momentary amusement before continuing with trying to catch the damn thing.

XXX

Misfire had got a bit of syk and had gotten ready for the injection. All it took was a little bit for the effects to kick in, but Misfire decided to go a little bit over the amount needed to get better effects from it. Misfire look at the dark-yellow substance before setting the syringe over the injection spot right in the center of the forearm; the head and body wasn't the best place to inject them in. Misfire hover the needle over the site, hyping himself up for it as this was always his least favorite part. Needles suck.

Misfire lowered the needle down into his forearm quickly and injected himself.

The effect was almost immediate. Senses flare. Perception heightens. Intense need to move. Body surged with energy. Mind buzzed. Awakeness. It was… wonderful feeling all of this. It was like voltage running through him.

He was alive.

XXX

"Why! Don't! You! Give! Up!" Hook screamed at the Kremzeek as it dodged his swipe with the box. Scavenger was currently on the ground, offline. The Kremzeek was still bouncing around, not being catch. Obviously, Hook was not amused. "Alright!" Hook said in a fatigued tone. "You win, you electric monster. You win! Happy!"

The Kremzeek stopped running and looked at the constructicon. "I am tire of chasing a stupid electric ball of annoyance like you. You are not a being of pure energy, but a being of pure hatred. A hatred for me! And for the love of primus, how is it a being of pure energy cast a shadow. Seriously, it doesn't make sense!" Hook ranted at the little imp, before slumping down to the floor, the rubber box falling to the floor upside-down. The Kremeek looked at Hook in what looked almost like sympathy. The Kremzeek hop over to the tired medic, and job on top of the box. Hook noticed this and looked at the thing.

"You're giving up?" Hook asked the electrical menace. The thing shook its head, whatever it counts as a head, yes. "Well then, let me open the box for you." The imp agreed and hop off the box so Hook can flip it back over and let the Kremzeek back in. Hook attached the rubber lid on top of it, sealing it in. With that done, he laid down on the floor.

That was a tiring experience.


	16. Bliss PT 1

Talos Four, City 17, Periphery Heights, Moscow Hotel, nighttime

Warmup entered the hotel. The lobby and was a nice and clean place, with antique Cybertronian furniture laying around in neat order. The area was painted a comforting blue color. A pure white mech was waiting behind the lobby on the computer, waiting to help anybody. "Good evening, sir. It's nice to see you again. Do you need any help?" the all too kind worker asked.

"Nah, I'm fine. Thanks. Just checking into my room for the night, uh, whatsyourface" Warmup up said to whatsyourface, much to his annoyance.

"It's Whiteout, sir," the mech said to the mercenary.

"Yeah, whatever," the rude mech said as he headed to the elevators. Whiteout gave a sigh before heading back to work on the computer. Warmup continued on, walking to the elevators. He entered the area and gaze at the sight of a black femme with purple-and-yellow trimmings and a tall stature. Warmup gazed longingly at the femme. She had a very nice and sleek design that was really shiny, showing that she really cared about her looks. She stood with her arm cross, looking rather impatient at waiting for the elevator. She hit the button again, trying in vain to make the thing go faster. "You realize that doesn't work," Warmup said to the femme. Said femme glared at him.

"So? It makes me feel better. Need to take my aggression out on something," the femme said, still looking irritated, almost as if she was angry at something else.

"Are you okay?" Warmup asked. Had to find a way to spend some time while waiting for the elevator.

"Yeah, it's just, ugh," the femme moaned. "My sparkmate has to postpone coming here. His job just got a little more interesting and could be getting paid more for it," the femme revealed.

"Oh, you have a sparkmate?" Warmup asked, a little surprise. A femme this good-looking shouldn't settle down for only one person.

"Yeah, I do," the femme said. "Been sparkmates for a long time now," the femme said.

Ding!

The elevator opened, inviting to two to enter. The two entered the compartment and the femme click the 13th floor. "Click the 23rd floor for me," Warmup said. The femme conceded to that and the elevator closed. "How did you two meet?" Warmup asked.

"It was back before the war. It was a regular day, just me getting ready to go around and hang out with some friends, until my creator inform he got me a bodyguard that would begin protecting me," the femme explain.

"A bodyguard?" Warmup asked.

"Yeah, my creator was a senator," she explained. 3rd floor now. "At the time, he had some very unpopular opinion and some people wanted him gone and would do anything to get to him. That included hurting his precious creation. So, he hired this guy to protect me and, well, we fell in love. It took a while, but we worked it out," the femme said, happiness coming from her voice. 7th floor now. "We've been together since. When the war started, he tried to stayed neutral and stayed on it while he got me a one-way ship off the planet. Next time I'd saw him, he was working for the Decepticons. Didn't explain why, just was. I could tell just by looking at him that he'd seen some ugly stuff," the femme said, a shiver coming to her voice. 10th floor now.

"I imagined so. Heard they did some seriously sick stuff, Warmup chipped in.

"Yeah, anyway, now that the war is nearing an end, he has more freedom to move around and do what he wants. The Autobots are on their last soldiers and are nearing a end," the femme said. "Thank Primus, this war was really getting old."

Ding!

13th floor. The door opened, letting the femme out. "Bye, uh, whatsyourface," The red grounder said to the femme. The femme turned around and corrected him just as the door closed.

"It's Thunderblast."

XXXThe Merchant

Killshot entered the cargo hold. Swindle had ordered him to go there and help the Constructicons, as they hadn't answered when Swindle buzzed them to ask how there doing. The first thing he noticed was Scavenger on the floor, temporally offline; with some scorch marks on his face. Looked like the Kremzeek shocked him hard. The next thing he noticed was Hook on the floor, still online, with the rubber box next to him. Hook glared at him as he entered the room. "Oh, great. The monoformer is here. This is just getting better," Hook moaned out.

"I may be a monoformer, but at least I have a good paint job. Seriously, purple and green?" Killshot fired back.

"It was Scrapper's idea, not mine," Hook replied. "He kept going on and on how they we needed something to separate us from others," he said as he got up all the floor. "I told him to just make a symbol to distinguish us from everybody else, but noooo, he insisted we're all color-coordinated. That we're all painted purple-and-green, not caring that that is a really ugly color combination. Nope, he said that we looked great. Ugh?" hook complained out loud.

"Wow, you really have some issues with Scrapper, don't you," Killshot commented.

"A few," Hook said with a wave of his hand. "It doesn't matter now. I don't work with him anymore. Maybe I should change my colors?" Hook thought to himself.

"It would certainly be a good thing," Killshot gave his opinion. He looked over at the other medic. "Looks like he got quite a shock," Killshot noted.

"Yeah, I'm still trying to figure out why he was down here in the first place," Hook said. Killshot tilted his head away from Hook and started scratching his head nervously.

"Yeah, I sure don't either," Killshot replied back a little nervously. Hook did not let his nervousness go unnoticed.

"You're acting a bit suspicious. Is there a reason why?" Hook investigated.

"What, me? Of course not," Killshot replied rather inconvincibly, walking towards the ammo section.

"Monoformer," Hook said in a low and threatening tone, "I'll let you know that Shockwave isn't the only person here that has experience torturing people, so tell me before I'm tempted to use my scalpel," Hook told Killshot. The assassin caved in.

"Alright, alright, fine. I asked Scavenger over the communicator to go get some bullets for my newly acquired pistol that I was sure Swindle had. In fact, I think I see them over here," Killshot said, picking up a metal box, as Hook frown went deeper. "Yeah, this is it. Anyway, I'm sure that Scavenger just didn't follow my direction and opened up the rubber box and cause the whole racket here," Killshot explained, Hook looking furious. "Yeah, bye!" Killshot yelled as he ran out the door, leaving Hook to attend the patient by himself.

Hook looked at the door the retreating monoformer ran through before returning his attention to his patient. Scavenger was shock pretty badly, but the scorch marks were nothing to worry about. The real problem was if the wires in his head were fried. There could be any number of problems mentally if they're fried. With his diagnosis complete, he put the rubber box up and then picked up Scavenger and carried him out the room.

XXX

Swindle was pressing a few buttons, trying to call Onslaught. Dead End, who was standing behind Swindle, wanted to see if he was okay without a second in commend. Swindle would've argue with him about how Onslaught was perfectly fine by himself, but decided not too due too the fact that he kinda need to talk to Onslaught too for more personal reason. What can he say, Onslaught was one of the few people he called a friend.

Within a few seconds, someone answered on the other side, but instead of Onslaught, a new face answered. He was colored black-and-white with yellow blotches in random places. "Hello, Swindle and Dead End," he greeted them. Swindle raised an eyebrow at that. "Don't act surprise. I know both of you decent enough from other people. I think I'd bought a gun or two off of you as well," he informed them. Suddenly, swindle was able to put a name to the face, one that he knew quite well.

"Deadlock! Nice to see you. What are you doing over at Dabola?" he asked.

"I'm here to replace Dead End as SIC over here," he replied. Dead End took it relatively well.

"I guess there's worse he could use to replace me," Dead End said. "You must be doing something right to have Onslaught called you first," Dead End complemented.

"Third," Deadlock corrected.

"Uh."

"I was third on his list of people to called to come in to replace you. Both of them were too busy to help," Deadlock told him. "If I'm correct, he had 10 possible replacements for you."

"Oh, is that all," Dead End muttered sarcastically.

"Actually, the list was just this galaxy alone. We're not including all the other ones," Deadlock corrected again, much to Dead End continued annoyance.

"Yay, woo. I'm expendable," Dead End cheered in the most deadpan voice possible.

"Yeah… I guess. So why did you two called?" Deadlock asked the two.

"Dead End here wanted to known if Onslaught was alright without him. Judging by your presence, I'd say everything's find there without him," Swindle answered for them.

"Obviously. Anyway, can you do me a favor?" Deadlock asked Swindle.

"Depends on what it is. Is it anything difficult?" Swindle asked.

"Nothing difficult. I just want you to tell Killshot to get off his aft and give me a damn call. Honestly, I've haven't heard from neither him nor Lugnutz since we were on Dabola together with Turmoil," Deadlock explained. "I get too many calls from Turmoil though," he aspirated.

"Yeah, I can do that for you. He be here to talk to you pretty quickly," Swindle confirmed.

"Give me a couple of cycles. I picking up reports of a major fight in the lounge." Deadlock face went blank for a second. "We have a lounge?"

"Yes, on both accounts," Swindle answered. Deadlock contemplated that for a few seconds.

"Make that a couple of megacycles," Deadlock said before the screen turned off, leaving Swindle and Dead End by themselves in a slightly awkward silence, before Dead End went back to his seat to read some poetry. Swindle decided not to point out he looked a bit angrier on his walk and just kept the ship going to the distress coordinates.

XXX

Misfire laid sitted on his berth, enjoying the high he was getting from this. Honestly, nothing was better than this. He never had syk before, due to everybody calling it too dangerous to use because it does some mess up things to you. Even Mixmaster wouldn't let him use or how to make it, keeping it to himself. Although, they made have been to addiction than him caring about Misfire. Honestly, judging from the high that he was feeling, they were overreacting. Honestly, this was so good. It was... it was...

Bliss.

"Hey, idiot. You really shouldn't use that," a voice said next to him on his left. Misfire was a little surprise at that, considering he was sure he lock the damn door. Still, he didn't react too much, turning his head slowly to see who it was. When he saw the owner of the voice, he just about did a doubletake.

It was Slugslinger, standing up and looking at him, with many little holes in him...


	17. Bliss PT 2

Talos Four, Periphery Heights, Moscow Hotel, 23rd floor, nighttime

DING!

The elevator opened, letting Warmup out. Warmup walked into the hallway, taking a left. He walked in a slightly erratic pace, slightly slowing down or speeding up with no discernible reason. The hallway was painted like the lobby, only in a slightly lighter shade of blue than before. There were some miscellaneous items on the walls such as paintings of landscapes, portraits of notable Cybertronians, and the occasional mirror.

Warmup arrived at his and Cooldown's room and opened it. Inside, he saw Cooldown sitting down at the table, gulping down the rest of the liquid in his glass, before setting the glass back on the table. He got the bottle and began pouring more in the glass. "Hey Warmup," he greeted, done pouring and putting the bottle back on the table. He grabbed the glassed and took a sip while signaling for him to come over. Warmup obliged, taking a seat at the table and taking a drink. Almost immediately, he spited it out.

"Ugh, Sweet Dreams Fuel," Warmup spat out in disgust. "Way too sweet for me," he complained. Cooldown drank down the rest of his with no problems and setting his glass down.

"Well then, I guess you won't be drinking that," Cooldown pointed out the rest of the drink in Warmup's hand. Warmup looked at it before passing it too him. Cooldown drank it down quickly and set it back down on the table, before pouring more in the glasses. "So, how was the concert?" he asked, done pouring and getting ready to take another drink. "I didn't expect you back so quickly."

"That's because I got kicked out," Warmup remarked bitterly. "This femme was protesting Rosanne, which, to be fair, her music is pretty bad, but she is a great femme to look at," the red twin told his blue twin. "I tried to calm her down, but instead I got in an argument with her and got a security guard to come over and kicked the both of out. Ugh, I'd really wanted to hit that femme."

"It looks like she hit you," Cooldown said, gulping down the first glass and moving on to the second one.

"Wait, it does?" Warmup asked, holding his face.

"Yeah, you got a scratch right on the left side of your face," Cooldown informed. Warmup began feeling the right side of his face. "Your other left," he corrected him. Warmup did what he said and felt the other side of his face.

"That glitch, I'm gonna have to buffer this out," the red mech complained.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Listen, we got this amazing opportunity to make a look of money," Cooldown said. Warmup looked at him strangely.

"Another job, already?" Warmup complained.

"Yes, another one and it's a very high-paying one," he said, as he downed the second glass.

XXX

The Merchant

Killshot sat in his room, shaking his head to his music, loading bullets into his clips for his pistol. The caliber was a pretty high and had some serious stopping power, great for both organic and synthetic life forms. Still, it was a good idea to have armor-piercing bullets to further help him pierce through synthetic beings.

Suddenly, someone knock on the door. Killshot didn't hear it though; as he was too busy listening to his music. He just kept on loading the clips for the gun. In response, a blue haze appeared in front of the door, showing Skywarp. Skywarp gazed around the room. On the left side, Killshot (who still didn't notice Skywarp) was on the berth on the left side of the room, with a pin-up of Rosanne above the berth and his visor on a table at the end of the berth. On the right was a big-screen TV that was currently off. On the far end was a mini armory, consisting of a variety of sniper rifles, bullets for non-energy sniper rifles, and accessories.

"Hey," Skywarp said to the assassin, trying to get his attention. He didn't react to him at all. Skywarp approach him saying, "Hey, Mr. Should-learn-when-to-keep-his-mouth-shut, I'm in your room, about to take all you stuff. You better stop me," Skywarp told the sniper. The grounder kept on listening to his music, which was starting to annoy the seeker. The music was loud and obnoxious. Skywarp decided he was going to have to get physical with the idiot. He was right beside of him now and position his hand behind his head. Skywarp brought his hand up and slam it right in the back of his head.

"OW!" Connection made. Killshot spilled his bullets to the floor and start grasping his head. "Okay, I didn't need that to happen to me again so quickly. Ow…." Killshot complained. He looked at the seeker with contempt. "How did you get in anyway? I lock the door so nobody would bother me," Killshot asked, lowering his headphones to his neck and lowering the volume so he can hear the seeker.

"Uh, I can teleport. Remember?" Skywarp told the selective-memory mech.

"Oh yeah, right. Did you really have to slap me?" he asked.

"No, but it sure felt good," Skywarp confessed. Killshot glared even harder at the seeker.

"So, why are you here?" Killshot asked.

"Swindle told me to tell you two things. Number one: the bullets you got from the cargo are being deducted from your pay-"

"He heard about that already?" Killshot complained.

"Number two," Skywarp ignored him, "you are to answer a called from Deadlock in a megacycle or two. I can't remember," Skywarp informed.

"Deadlock? What does he want? He is asking me to join a pow-wow, 'cause I'm kinda busy right now," Killshot asked Skywarp.

"I don't know. From what I heard, I think he just wants to talk to you. He said you two haven't talked in a while," Skywarp informed the assassin.

"Oh, yeah. Let me guess. He wants to talk about all the good times we had on Dabola," Killshot drifting off a little bit. "Man, those were some really fun times," Killshot remembered.

"Yeah, look, I don't want to know all about the violent times you two had with each other, but just be sure to be on the bridge in a megacycle or two to answer the call, alright," Skywarp told him before teleporting out, leaving the assassin by himself. The assassin stare at the blank space where the jet was for a few seconds before crouching down to pick up the bullets from the floor.

XXX

Scavenger couldn't really feel anything at the moment. He felt completely weightless, as if he was just floating in a blank space. He was just gliding along, noticing nothing. He just floated around in a constant state of bliss.

XXX

In the med-lab, Hook and Shockwave was busy looking through the expose back of Scavenger head. The wires in his head were a bit fried, but were still operational, meaning he still had control of his body. His brain module was a slightly different story. Some of the shell was in too bad of a condition to be of any use, with bits of it actually almost sticking to the inside of it. Hook had to cut the shell out and insert new one to preserve the brain module and actually keep his assistant alive and active.

"Explain to me why I m here assisting you?" Shockwave asked the doctor. Hook gave him a aside glance before explaining.

"I need an assistant. You're the one I trust the most on this ship. All the others I'm sure would attempt to screw me over in some way, I actively dislike, or are just annoying," Hook explained. "Now, give me the laser scalpel. I have to cut the fried shell of the brain module out," he ordered. Shockwave agreed, giving him the laser scalpel. Hook grabbed it and began cutting through the shell. Shockwave looked on with his ominous optic.

Hook began at the top of the shell, cutting it down slowly. Scavenger didn't react to it, lying completely still. "You've turn his pain receptors off," Shockwave noticed. Hook kept dragging the scalpel down, being a quarter of a way there now.

"Yes, I did. Its procedure," Hook replied, three-eighths of the way down. "Doesn't mean I do it all the time," Hook ominously said. Hook kept going down, reaching five-eighths of the way there before Shockwave spoke up again.

"Exactly what am I suppose to do besides giving you your instruments?" he asked. Three-fourths of the way there.

"I need you to hold his brain module while I take the rest of the shell out and replace it with another one," Hook answered. Almost there.

"Sounds simple enough," Shockwave commented.

"Yes, it does. Done," Hook said, placing the scalpel aside. "Retractor," he ordered, sticking his hand out. Shockwave agreed, giving it to him. Hook insert it into the small gap, making it bigger. "Forceps," he requested. Shockwave gave it to him. Hook inserted the forceps in and brought them back out with the brain module in it, wires still attached to it. "Hold this for a second," he said to Shockwave, who hold it in his hand. "I need to disconnect the wires," Hook said, and proceeded to do so. He took the wires out one at a time, and place them back in shell until he was done.

"Alright, hold on to that while I cut that shell out," Hook said. He took the scalpel and began cutting through the shell out of the head. He disconnected any wires stuck to the shell and cut the pieces out that were sticking to the head. Half an hour later, he was done, the old shell lying on the side away from Scavenger. He took one half of the new shell and inserted it in, connecting the wires to it and securing it in place.

"Give me the brain module back," Hook said. Shockwave gave it back and Hook inserted it back in, connecting all the wires of the shell back to the brain module. After that, he got the second half of the shell and connected it to the brain module before putting it back in. "Laser welder," he said, and Shockwave gave it to him. Hook used it to connect the two pieces back together the shell, making sure not to hit any of the wires. Scavenger didn't need any more wounds. With that done, he started connecting the back pieces of his head back together with the welder.

"Are we finished?" Shockwave asked. Hook didn't even spare him a glance as he connected the back of the head back together.

"Yes, you can go back to your lab and continue with whatever you were doing," Hook told him. Shockwave understand and went out of the room, leaving Hook alone with Scavenger's form. Hook continue on until he was done, connecting the back of the head to Scavenger. With this done, Hook set his tools done and gaze at his work. It was good, almost perfect in fact. The only sign surgery was done in the first place was some small scars and those could be buffed. TO bad he didn't have his buffer on hand or he could=

Wait; was that his buffer on his desk?

Hook walked to his desk and grabbed the buffer. Misfire didn't have enough time to use the buffer to fully use the buffer, so why was it back in his possession already? Hook thought this over a little bit, before heading back to Scavenger's form. He may not know now, but he'll figure it out tomorrow during their therapy session. Right now, he had to buffer the scar out of his assistant's head.

XXX

Misfire gazed into Slugslinger's optics- actually, scratch that. Optic. The left one was shot out. The blue jet lean against the wall, looking down on the Misfire as he sat down on the berth. He was currently smiling, which was pretty unnerving, considering all the holes in him. "So, how you're doing?" Slugslinger asked his trinemate.

"Uh, I may have leak some transmission fluid, but other than that, I'm fine," Misfire said, rather calmly, considering there was a walking corpse that he killed in front of him. "I'm certainly better than you," Misfire snark back. Slugslinger frowned at that.

"Yeah, I guess you are," he said, looking down at himself, as if he just noticed all the holes in him, "but I digress. I must say, despite the holes, I still look better than you," Slugslinger jeer, making fun of Misfire's scar. "How much did getting those hurt, on a scale of 1 to 10?" he asked.

"Eh, I'm not sure, but I'd say it was somewhere over nine-thousand," Misfire replied. They stared at each other for a little longer. "So, where's Triggerhappy? Did he have a date somewhere else? Some good-looking mechs and femmes have died during the war and it wouldn't surprise me if he hooked up with some of them," Misfire asked. In response, Slugslinger looked across from Misfire.

"Right there," he told him. Misfire turned to see Trigggerhappy leaning against the wall on the other side. Liked Slugslinger, he had a blue paint job. Also liked Slugslinger, he kept his gruesome injury, in this case, everything above the jaw was gone. He was 'gazing' down at Misfire. 'Gazing' being use on loose terms. "Sorry for him not speaking," Slugslinger said behind him, sounding a bit sarcastic, "he's a bit shy. You won't be getting head from him anytime soon." Triggerhappy replied to that by sticking his middle finger up at him. "Sorry, I'd had to say that."

"Uh, guys, exactly why are you here?" Misfire asked. Slugslinger looked at the jet.

"A combination of drugs and guilt," he replied. Triggerhappy nodded his jaw in approval.

"Wow, I didn't know syk had that effect," Misfire said. Misfire noticed something he said. "Wait, guilt? Ha, yeah right. I don't feel guilt!" Misfire blew him off, although he sounded a bit nervous at that. Triggerhappy shook his jaw up-and-down.

"Triggerhappy's right. You do," Slugslinger said. Triggerhappy gave some weird hand motions. "In fact, so guilty, you get yourself high every time you think about your actions," Slugslinger translated for him.

"That not's true! Shut up!" Misfire shouted at his hallucinations. "I'm trying to get high here! Not get a therapy lesson, so shut up," Misfire said, sounding a bit like a mad man.

"Misfire, admit it. You're guilty over causing our deaths," Slugslinger tried to coax.

"I may have been involve in your death, but I wasn't involve in Triggerhappy's. He got shot by a sniper. What was I suppose to do about that, uh?" he asked.

"You were still involved. You just don't realize it. Think about it," Slugslinger said. "In fact, you were directly and indirectly involved with everyone's death; Ours, Blackout, Fulcrum, the Vehicons,.. all of them.

"No, I'm not," Misfire said, holding his hands to his heads, holding back a headache. "Now go away, just go away. Go away, go away, go away…." Misfire repeated to himself And he kept repeating, repeating, repeating, over, over, and over again.

"Go away."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That Brain surgery scene was hard to write about. Also, this is the last chapter I have done. Everything else will be uploaded sporadically.


	18. Bliss PT 3

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the OC's and the plotline. Transformers belong to the bros at Hasbro.

XXX

Talos Four, City 17, Periphery Heights, Moscow hotel, nighttime

"Wow!" Warmup shouted. "We're guaranteed at least a 100,000 shanix just for him being dead? That's a fragging jackpot!" Cooldown indicated to him with a motion of his hand to quiet down. "Sorry," Warmup apologized.

"It's no problem with me. It's the neighbors I'm worrying about," Cooldown explained, downing another shot of his drink after telling him.

"So, when we're leaving?" Warmup asked.

"Tomorrow morning," Cooldown told him, grabbing the other glass after downing the first.

"That early?" Warmup wondered. "Do we even know where he is?" Cooldown stopped the shot from reaching his lips after hearing that question. How were they suppose to find the guy?

"I don't know," Cooldown answered honestly. "I'm guessing Bombline or his client will have something planned," he theorized.

"Maybe," Warmup said, slumping down in his chair. "I'm tire. I'm going to recharge," Warmup said, standing up.

"Yeah, I'm with you," Cooldown agreed after downing the drink. He got up from his seat slowly and went to his berth, stumbling just a little bit. Both of them laid down on their berths and started recharging.

XXX

The Merchant

Killshot walked into the bridge. Dead End and Skywarp were both sitting at the table, the former reading and the latter drinking some energon. Swindle was over at the cockpit, flying the ship towards it destination. He noticed that everyone in the room was tire, probably needing a recharge soon. He had to admit that he was feeling a bit tire too. He walked up to the cockpit and sat down in the seat next to Swindle. "So, Deadlock ready to talk?" he asked.

"Not yet," Swindle replied. "I've been trying to get someone to answer, but no one's there."

"Ah, so, any idea when someone will answer?" he asked.

"Shouldn't be much longer," he told him. Swindle looked at his employee. "So, I've got information of the location where the distress signal is at," Swindle inform him.

"Really now. What?" he asked the conmech. However, before he could answer, Skywarp asked behind them:

"What distress signal?" he asked. Swindle clenched his fingers into a fist at that. He forgot about Skywarp being there.

"Dead End, please stop reading your depressing poetry and add to the discussion by informing Skywarp about the distress signal." Dead End gave a sigh, before explaining to Skywarp quickly about to distress signal. After he was done, Skywarp asked what was important about the distress signals. "Well, for starters, it could mean that the mercenaries are there." This earned Skywarp's attention. "To go along with that, I've recently figure out that the ship is called the 'Apoptosis,' which is an Autobot space station," Swindle add.

"Apoptosis?" Killshot repeated. "That's a mouthful. Who would name a space station that?"

"A giant nerd, I'm guessing," Skywarp chimed in.

"Yeah, probably," Swindle said, looking at his console. "Hey, I think Deadlock is finally answering," Swindle said, and sure enough, Deadlock appeared on screen, looking at the two cons he could see at the cockpit.

"Yeah, it took a bit longer than expected. It was a full-scale lounge fight," Deadlock told the two.

"Lounge fight?" Killshot asked. "Don't tell me they gave you trouble," Killshot mocked.

"Don't worry, they didn't. I can take care of myself in a fight, unlike you," Deadlock fired back. "I can hold Dabola down."

"Ah, good to know," Killshot said, sounding a little slow. "Look, Deadlock. You think you can call me later? Today has been a tiring day," Killshot said.

"Why? You've barely been gone a solar cycle. You've couldn't have run into danger that quickly, right?" he asked.

"Actually, we have. Pirates," Swindle answered for Killshot. Killshot glared at him.

"Thanks, Blabbermouth," Killshot said.

"Pirates?" Deadlock questioned. "Wow, you have some seriously good luck."

"I don't call it good luck. I call it an extreme annoyance," Killshot sneered. Deadlock gave him a disappointing look. "What? I don't do large amounts of people shooting at me in close-quarters. You know that."

"It definitely wasn't like that at Dabola. Last I check, you got your hands really dirty there," Deadlock pointed out.

"Okay, valid point, but it was a one-time thing," Killshot said.

"Un-hun yeah. Alright. Look, give me a call later after you got some rest, okay," Dead lock told him.

"Yeah, sure. Later," Killshot said, turning the screen off. "I'm not calling him anytime soon," Killshot said almost immediately after getting off.

"Not your favorite person to hang out with, I'm guessing," Swindle guessed.

"Eh, he's in the middle, in between 'I'll totally hang out with you later' and 'if you call me again, I'll kill you.'" Killshot clarified. "Overall, there's worse. A lot worst."

"Like what?" Swindle asked.

"Like Turmoil. If I ever have to be in the same room with that fragger, I'm liable to kill him. The only really difficult part is how do I want to kill him," Killshot said as an example.

"Yeah, I've met him a few times. Big, brutal, and a jerk," Swindle agreed.

"Ditto," Skywarp chimed in behind them. "Had to work with once with my trinemates. He was one disrespectful fragger, but he knew what he was doing."

"As did I, but only for a short time on a single mission. Never really met him, just got orders from him," Dead End chipped in too.

"Yeah, well, I'm going to sleep. Good-night," Killshot said to the group. Before getting up, he said one last thing to Swindle. "By the way, you still got Transmission fluid stains on you, might want to wash it off." With that sage-like wisdom given, he departed from the room, leaving Swindle to look at himself. He still had the stains on him.

"Dammit."

XXX

Misfire sat in a corner of his room, covering his head, being in that posture for a unknown amount of time, trying to ignore the dead staring at him. He could still hear Slugslinger trying to get his attention, but Misfire wouldn't have it. He was going to stay here and ignore them until the drugs wear off, and when that was done, he was going to take those drugs and dump them somewhere where so that he couldn't use them. Syk just wasn't for him.

Still, despite the fact that they were hallucinations, Misfire was kind of glad to see them again. They were trinemates and they had bonds. Not as serious as split-spark twins or gestalt groups, but it was there, always lingering. When a trinemate die, you don't notice the absent of a bond much for a while, but it does build up over time. The absence of the bond is just there, pestering you, festering within you, making you feel more pain as time goes on. The grief consumes you and you do whatever you can to lessen the pain. Having another trinemate that was still alive lessen that pain considerably, but by himself? Unbearable. Dugs made it bearable.

Seeing and talking to his trinemates made that pain go away.

"You finally realize it, don't you," Slugslinger said in front of him. Misfire noticed that he was crouched down in front of him now, in a very caring motion, like a brother. "Syk can let you talk to us, help you forget the pain, and let you live," Slugslinger explained to him.

"But it doesn't last," Misfire said somberly. "The effect can only last for so long before it goes away."

"Then take more. Get a batch of syk and analyze it to make more," Slugslinger told him, his voice almost having a fatherly tone, with Triggerhappy shaking whatever was left of his head 'yes' happily in response. Misfire looked at him with an almost disbelieving look.

"Weren't you always going on about how drugs are bad for me?" Misfire asked.

"I'm making an exception, just this once," Slugslinger explained. "I had good reason for making you not taking drugs. It always limited combat effectiveness, same with Triggerhappy with his circuit boosters. Thanks by the way for introducing him to circuit boosters, by the way," he added that last part sarcastically.

"Yeah, well, no offense, but I kinda don't want to look at you're ugly mugs every time I take syk. Seriously, it's very creepy," Misfire said, in a disgusted tone, looking at the holes that allow him to look into Slugslinger's inter-circuitry and Triggerhappy's utter lack of the top half of his head. Walking corpses, in general, were creepy to look at. Hopefully, he wouldn't have to see much more.

"Get over it," Slugslinger said bluntly. Misfire looked at him and couldn't help but notice that he was fading away very slowly. "We don't have much time," he noticed. "Look, this may freak you out, but this will help you. Think of it as therapy with Hook, only a lot more affective. Syk can help you get through this," Slugslinger comforted him, as he was fading away.

"How can you be so damn sure?" Misfire asked.

"Just trust me. I'm the leader of the trine and I know what's best, even though you ignore me every single time." Misfire flinched a little bit at that tone. "But this will help you. Use it, take away your pain," Slugslinger shouted to convinced him, getting more and more transparent. Triggerhappy gave a barely visible thumb up at his comment. Misfire sighed and looked away, thinking about it for a little while, before answering back.

"I guess you make a point," Misfire said. He looked up, only to see he was talking to air. Misfire looked around, slightly disappointed. He got up, shaking a little bit as he made his way up. He felt tired. Very, very tired. He walked to his berth where he laid his syk at. He grabbed it and looked at it thoughtfully. For once, drugs were actually going to give him something besides momentary bliss. They were giving him a chance to live through the death of his trinemates without pain.

With this thought in mind, he opened up a compartment in the wall above his berth. He found it pretty early in his entrance to the room. Inside was a Subsonic repeater, a type of submachine gun, that was already in there, but there was still plenty of room to place the box in there. Misfire brushed the gun aside and put the box in there, before he closed it and lied down on his berth. Misfire felt very little in him missing. Everything was surprisingly well.

That was bliss.

XXX

At megacycle later, everyone was in there rooms, recharging. The ship was on autopilot, heading to Apoptosis. Everyone was recharging, trying to get some recharge. The ship was deathly quiet. Nothing moved… except for a single form moving through the halls.

Scavenger.


	19. Stains PT 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Swindle dreams about the past.

Many Vorns Ago

Swindle looked at the beautiful piece of work in front of him; a nice, simple, rectangular, black box that on the inside held the components of an EMP bomb. On the side was a switch that would manually activate it (Why did he put that in there?) and the bottom had a magnet that would let it stick to his back, walls, or the ceiling or anything metallic. The shell of the device was made from ununtrium, meaning it wasn't going to be pierce by an accidently bullet or shrapnel and break. At this moment, even though Swindle was really tire, he was proud of his work.

"Oh, that looks pretty cool." Swindle jumped up in the air for a second before turning around to face the owner of that voice: Vortex. Of course it was him.

"Primus, Vortex. Don't do that again," Swindle told the helicopter.

"Why? Afraid I might give you a swift kick in the aft?" Vortex asked him.

"That and I don't like surprises. Seriously, I loathe them," Swindle explained. "Of course, knowing you, this is going straight over your head."

"Oh, come on Swindle. Words can't fly," Vortex told him, completely missing the point.

"That's not what I meant you- ah forget it. What time is it?" Swindle asked him.

"It's tomorrow," Vortex told him.

"Tomorrow? Already? Ah scrap!" Swindle shouted, moving towards the door. "Watch the bomb and make sure no one touches it while I go tell Onslaught about it being done," Swindle ordered him as he walked out the door. Vortex responded by giving an unseen thumbs-up as he remarked:

"You might want to clean yourself. You look like scrap." The door closed, leaving Swindle to look at himself. He had plenty of stains on him that mixed with older ones that made him look very dirty. Swindle gave a sigh about this before heading to Onslaught. He could clean after he was done with informing Onslaught about the bomb's completion. So Swindle head down the dark color halls with bright lights, passing several figures along the way, including Rumble and Frenzy, who were in the process of beating each up with the blue one winning (which was he: Rumble or Frenzy?). Within a few minutes, he had reach Onslaught's quarters and knocked on the door.

"It's open!" Onslaught shouted from inside the room. Swindle clicked a button and the door opened, letting him in. Inside, Onslaught was looking over a map for Solaris. "Hello, Swindle! So, I assume you've got the EMP ready?" Onslaught asked him, getting straight down to business.

"Yeah. Vortex is guarding it right now, making sure no one touches it. It should be ready to go," Swindle answered to his commanding officer.

"But?" Onslaught questioned, knowing there had to be something he was purposefully left out.

"But I haven't tested it, yet. Who knows what might happen when I press the trigger. It could work just fine or completely fail," Swindle replied. "I don't know unless I've tested it."

"Well then, you better hope it works, because we're moving out in a few megacycles," Onslaught told his soldier.

"We are? I haven't even gone my recharge in. I've been working all night on that damn thing," Swindle complained like a bitter child.

"Get over it," Onslaught told him harshly. "It's going to take at least five megacycles to get everything in order for us to attack for tonight. I've already told everybody else the full plan for this except you, so come over here and listen carefully," Onslaught commanded him. Swindle obeyed like a loyal subordinate.

"Now, as you already known, Motormaster and his fellow Stunticons are going to launch an assault on the front of the base along with about a thousand Vehicons. While they're distracting them, we're going to sneak in from the back along with a few Vehicons as backup. From there, we split up. Blast Off will find the highest building he can and offer sniper support for us and the Stunticons from there, while Brawl and I will head to a fuel depot to blow it up and wreak havoc to make a distraction for you and Vortex. Speaking of you two, you'll head to the building where the generator is, sneak in, and take it out. Once that's done and the guns are down, Starscream will lead an aerial assault with his trine and a fleet of Vehicons. After that, it's basically clean up," Onslaught explained his lengthy plan. "Did you get all that?"

"Yeah, I got it," Swindle confirmed. "Still doesn't explain why Megatron wants this place so badly, besides the fact that he gets to crush the Autobots," Swindle wondered.

"That's simple. There are some underground labs there and the Autobots have probably been working on some secret devices to help turn the war over to their favor. We're going to make sure that that doesn't happen and claim it for ourselves," Onslaught enlightened Swindle, which grabbed his attention. "As you commanding officer, I advise that you don't steal anything without letting Megatron look at, unless you know it won't help out with the war effort," he warned him.

"Advised, not ordered," Swindle clarified. "He won't notice a few weapons missing."

"Do so at your own risk. Now, go wash up. Seriously, you got a lot of stains on you," Onslaught ordered.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know. You're not the first to have said that today," Swindle said, heading out the door.

"Swindle, one more thing," Onslaught said. Swindle turn around to listen to him. "After you're done cleaning up, go check the weapons, especially the EMP," Onslaught ordered. Swindle nodded.

"You got it. Everything will be working fine tonight," Swindle soothe him, walking out the door and towards the washing stations. He really needed to get clean.

XXX

Swindle online, getting out of his recharge. There were two things he notice upon exiting recharge. The first thing he notice was that he really needed to clean himself. The transmission fluid stains were still there. Second, and more importantly, Scavenger was about to cave his head in with his E-tool.

Scrap.


	20. Stains PT 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Scavenger wakes up.

Scavenger onlined to the med-bay. The room was a lot dimmer than before, making it really hard to see. The lights cast eerie shadows around the room, making darkness where light didn't touch. Medical equipment laid nearby, not clean yet, still stained with energon. Hook lay behind his desk, recharging, face on the desk. Obviously, he fell asleep watching over Scavenger or something like that.

Scavenger slowly rise himself up to a sitting position, making sure everything was alright. He got into a position with little trouble, his inner mechanisms working just fine. He stretched his arms a bit, making sure they were working fine. With that done, he slides his legs off the table, leaving them hanging in the air. Looks like they were working fine, but he had to make sure they could take the strain of him walking. He slowly edged himself off the table, his feet slowly touching the ground. He felt his feet touching the cold, metal floor and started standing up. He felt completely fine, except a few rusted joints and gears being a little slow, but moving those legs will fix that real quick.

Slowly, he started walking around the table, keeping a hand on the table to balance himself to make sure he stays standing. Those were the things Hook told him to do in case something like this happen and he trusted Hook. He trusted him with his life, which is something he couldn't say about anyone else, despite what the voice said. He was nothing but a liar, something who wanted to bring him down. Someone who would do anything to trick him into thinking he was his friend.

Scavenger shook his head from those thoughts. He didn't want to think about that fragger. He just wanted to make sure he was ready to move about. Although, he kind of wanted to know how did he ended up in the med-bay? All he remembered was getting shock by that kremzeek in the cargo hold. Could that have caused enough injuries to warrant him to go to the med-bay?

"The answer to that question is yes," a familiar voice said. Scavenger snapped his head back to the entrance to the med-bay. He saw no one there. He looked around to where Hook was, about to yell out for him, when he realized he wasn't there. Where the heck was he? "In the hall, you moron," the voice said, condescendingly. Scavenger flinched slightly at that tone. He looked around the room again, looking for anybody to help him. "You're all alone. Come on out and play," the voice commanded him in a deep voice. Scavenger hesitated a bit before walking towards the door. He needed to figure out what was going on. He reached the door, his spark fluxing faster than before. Slowly, he pressed the button and opened the door.

No one was there. Scavenger exhaled a sigh of release. "I'm surprise you were brave enough to walk," the voice said, just a tiny bit of surprise in his voice. "If you want to meet me - and trust me, you do – come to the top floor of the ship. You know, the captain's quarters. You get to actually see me," the voice instructed. Scavenger processed that information, deciding what to do. Should he go up there or stay here where it was safe? "Come on, don't you want to kill me? That reminds me, bring a weapon. You're going to need it," the voice advised. Now that was tempting. To be rid of this bastard would be a weight off his shoulder.

With a goal set, he made a quick trip to his room. He grabbed his weapon of choice, an E-tool, simple handheld shovel, and headed to where he get to the first floor. Question was where was what he needed to get there? He couldn't remember. "You should consider remembering the ship more often. The elevators are over at the back of the ship, you neurotic," the voice told him. Scavenger mentally told himself to remember this and headed off towards the back of the ship.

"You know, I'm surprise you're in a hurry to meet you're death," the voice monologue. "You, such a strut-less, neurotic individual. You are always so ready to please, even though you'll never get their respect. You'll always be nothing but a sycophant, following orders; nothing but a replacement. The worst is, however, after all the time I try to help you, you turn your back on me! The only person who tries to help you and has a modicum of respect for you and you turn me away! Why, you idiotic being? Why!" the voice shouted, going from a monologue to a rant. Scavenger ignored this, letting him rant more. He reached the elevator and entered it, pressing the first floor button. He was going to kill this guy today.

The elevator headed up silently. Right now, all Scavenger could hear was the voice, ranting more and more at him. Instead of listening to him, he looked at his weapon. It was nothing more than his trusty E-tool. Nothing more than a hand-held shovel, but it was a deadly weapon. The head of the shovel was very sharp. Someone could easily swing it down with enough force to slice through the head of an individual. Scavenger himself has had to do it a few times in the heat of battle, growing proficient with it over the years. It was a reliable weapon, easy-to-use weapon, even though it did get a bit stuck in the body of his assailant from time to time. He looked at his weapon that he didn't notice that the voice had shut up.

Ding!

The door opened with slight rumble. Scavenger looked out the entrance-way, looking for that damn voice. It was no where around. The only thing around was a door that led to Swindle's room. The room was painted a simple beige color with nothing of note in it. Slowly, Scavenger approached the door, his E-tool at the ready. He hover his left hand over the button while having his right hand in a position ready to strike if anything lied behind the door. He slowly led his hand down, ready to strike, before…

Whoosh!

He pressed the button and the door opened, showing no one waiting for him. "Come in!" the voice called out. Okay, not quite true. Scavenger entered the room. The first thing he notice that the right side of the area carried a desk with all sorts of different things on it; a study area of some sort. Straight ahead was a small flight of steps and a wall was to his right. The room was painted a sky-blue color, with a purple, vertical stripe at random intervals. Scavenger made a note that Swindle's place was already looking better than his before walking into the next room.

The room was a master bedroom of some sort. The front held two chairs with a table between it, a place for idle chat. The left was mostly bear, except for a large screen in the middle of it. The right side held a few shelves and another door. At the back was a rather large recharge slab with a gun hanging off the wall on the left side of the wall, probably a scattershot. On the recharge slab was a form that definitely didn't looked like Swindle.

"Hello and welcome," the voice greeted him. It was a slim, black mech with yellow optics, lacking any distinct characteristics besides that. He looked like a very generic bot. "So, you're ready to die?" the voiced questioned.

"No. I am ready to kill you, though," Scavenger said, walking towards the voice, leering over him. He laid there, with his hands under his head, in a very relaxed pose. Scavenger lifted his E-tool above his head and prepared to slash down towards his nemesis. "Go to the pit!" he yelled, bringing the shovel down.


	21. Stains PT 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Swindle and Scavenger fight.

Swindle, upon seeing his insane crew member swing the e-tool down on him, reacted predictably; he drawed a black from his arm to back it and grabbed the handle of the tool with his other hand before it hit him in the face. "What (Is) the (that) frag (all)!" Swindle shouted, the weapon dangerously close to his face.

"Shut up and die!" Scavenger yelled at him, putting more pressure on the weapon. Swindle, in response, push back harder as well.

"What (You) I'd (are) do (weak)!" Swindle shouted at him.

"No, I'm not!" the medic responded, pushing down on the weapon even harder. Swindle responded the same, not wanting to get his face cleave off. The two engage in a stalemate, one trying to kill the other, while the other one was trying to figure what the heck was wrong with him. Swindle had to disarm him and offline him or talk him down, not kill him. Primus knows what Hook or any of the other Constructicons would do if he found he killed him.

First things first: got to get off the recharge slab. Scavenger was in a advantage here, as the bed didn't give Swindle a lot of room and gravity was slightly on Scavenger's side. He had to make room and get off. While Scavenger was busy trying to cleave his face in two, Swindle brought his legs up and push against Scavenger chest. Scavenger was caught off guard by this and was pushed away from him, temporarily losing his balance. Swindle took advantage of this by rolling off the side of the slab, putting it between him and Scavenger.

"Al- (that) -right (was) Scav (bad), lets (try) calm (a-) down (-gain) now (fool)," Swindle said, ever the diplomat. Peaceful resolutions were kind of his thing rather than shooting ever fragger there was. You didn't get far shooting everything in sight. It was also better than bringing him to hook injured after that fiasco with the kremzeek.

"Screw you, bastard!" Of course, he had no problem mixing the two up. Bringing pain while talking peace was a nice contradiction. Insults are just plain rude. Before Swindle could do anything else, however, Scavenger was lunging over the bed and getting ready to take his head off. Swindle reacted quickly and duck under his shovel, letting him collide with the shelf behind him. Swindle took the advantage and made a grab for Scavenger's weapon. However, before he could reach it, he felt something sweep his feet from under him. The damn tail!

Scavenger was above him again now and was bringing the shovel down completely vertically, aiming for his head. Swindle reacted by rolling away and letting Scavenger's shovel dig into the floor. Scavenger pulled, trying to bring the shovel back up, but it was a bit stuck. Swindle capitalize on this by tackling him onto the berth, separating Scavenger from his weapon. "E- (You're) –nough (weak)! Calm (Come) down (on)! We (Show) can (me) talk (that) through (you're) this (strong-) if (-er) you (than) stop (weak)."

Scavenger was confused for a slight moment. It sounded like a second person was coming out of his voice, someone familiar. He got rid of this quickly, concentrating on getting his assailant off of him. He quickly head-butted the black figure, staggering him for a little bit and kicked him off sending him to the floor. Scavenger rolled off the berth away from his attacker and looked for another weapon and found one. Swindle was still a little feeling dazed from the headbutt as he got off the floor and gazed at Scavenger.

He was aiming his Scattershot at him. Frag it!

BANG!

Swindle ducked before he fired, letting the projectiles harmlessly miss him, but harmfully destroyed some of the valuables on his shelf. Those cost money! Swindle was trying to resist how much that cost and instead figure out a way to disarm Scavenger again. A scattershot was for more damaging than a shovel. Swindle looked quickly for something to disarm him and found something. He quickly ran for it, barely dodging another shot from Scavenger. He ran for the front of the room and grabbed the nearest chair. He took that and quickly swung it at Scavenger, who was getting ready to take another shot. The chair threw him off balance, letting him shoot the gun harmlessly at the ceiling (but still cost money). Swindle took this distraction to run up and wrench the gun from his hand and threw it to the side.

Now disarm, Scavenger started getting desperate. The damn bastard was always finding a way around his attacks and just generally making it hard to actually hurt him significantly. He was also wondering why the heck he was throwing away the weapon. He wanted to kill him right? Scavenger put those thoughts at the back of his processor and started swinging punches at Swindle. Swindle had to smirk at that. Scavenger was a Constructicon, a construction worker, and he was a Combaticon, a spec ops soldier. This was easy.

Swindle dodge the first two swipes at him before catching the third one and flip him over to the ground. With Scavenger dazed by that, Swindle holstered himself on top of him and kept his limbs in place and started shouting at him. "Lis- (You're) -ten (weak) up (Scav), you (you) I- (can't) di- (beat) –ot (me). Stop (Sub-) at- (mit) –tack- (to) -ing (your) me (end)!" Scavenger listened to that. It didn't sound like the voice, but it sounded like Swindle. He could still hear it, but it wasn't anywhere as prominent as before. To go along with that, the blackness of the figure started going away like a stain being remove and the chassis started expanding to show a much bulkier, familiar figure.

"Swindle! Oh, scrap, I'm sorry. I didn't know it was you!" Scavenger blurted out, causing Swindle to give a very confuse expression.

"What! Are you blind? Are your optics messing with you or something?" Swindle asked loosening his grip a little, but still holding on. This could be a ruse.

It's a lot more complicated than that," Scavenger said, remorse in his voice. "It's never been this bad before."

"What's never been this bad before?" Swindle interrogated the medic. Scavenger didn't answer the question, instead asking a different question.

"Can you get off me? I don't like being constrain," he asked of the conmech. Swindle thought about this before relenting, getting off him. Scavenger got up slowly before walking off to the chair Swindle didn't throw at him and sit down in it. Swindle looked at him for a little bit before grabbing the chair that he did throw at him and taking it where he was sited at. He wanted answers and Scavenger was giving them. He sat the chair down and sat down in it, looking at Scavenger. "Alright, look, I wasn't always the sixth member of the Constructicons. See I sort of started out homeless."

"Homeless? Don't you have creators?" Swindle asked.

"I do, but they died in this massive explosion near when I was first created. People took me to new creators. I hated them. I left. Simple. Anyway, I started out homeless. Instead of getting training for my alt. mode, I instead wonder around polyhex, where I was created. I ended up getting a job at the smelting pools there. It was easy, transporting metal to be melted down. Simple, easy, and didn't pay well. It was one of those jobs where they were open for anyone, regardless of their alt. mode. So I work there for a hundred or so vorns. I worked alone. I didn't have friends. No one liked me, especially this one aft. Every sentence to me from that guy was a insult from me. I hated him!

But then, I heard this voice. This little voice. He told not to take anything that they do to me. That I should fight back. I ignore him for a little while, until about 5 vorns later. I was working overtime at the place. Thing was, so was that bastard I talk about earlier. No one else, just me and him and our boss who checks in on us every couple megacycles or so. He kept mocking me and mocking me and that voice just kept whispering words of encouragement to kill that bastard. Eventually, I just… snap. I took this piece of rebar on walked behind while he wasn't looking and he kept saying things. Mean, nasty things about me until I hit him in the head. And again. And again. Over and over. Then I jab it right into his spark, just to make sure he was dead and to see if he had one. Turns out he did. Who knew?

Anyway, I had a problem. I had a body to get rid of. I didn't want to do it. What if he had people that cared about him that wanted to handle his body? But that voice, that ever little voice said I should just throw it into the smelter, make sure he was never found, so I did. I threw him in there and watch him melt. The only thing left there was the stains. The spelt energon from killing him had stain the floors, but it didn't matter. People were hurt all the time on the job and would blend in with all the other stains. All I had to do was lie. Just lie. So I did.

But it wasn't enough. They were suspected I did something when he turned up missing, so I ran away from Polyhex to Iacon, where I met with the Constructicons. The voice told me to join them, said they needed me. Turned out he was right. They needed another someone with my alt. mode sense the previous one died recently in an accident. I join and they turned out to be good friends to they tolerate me, at least. Still better than before. Painted myself in their colors and changed my name. But that voice… it stayed with me. It stayed long after I didn't need it and continue to mess with me, now actively messing with me. It stains part of my mind, making me forgot that I'm in reality sometimes. Makes me forget I'm talking to nothing but corpses. I hate it and I wish it go away," Scavenger ended his long story. Swindle sort of looked at him strangely.

"Have you talk to anybody else about this?" he asked.

"No, but they've suspected things. They always suspected things. Don't blame them either. I'm a nervous wreck," Scavenger pointed out. Swindle laid back in his chair, thinking this through. Scavenger was obviously a neurotic mess and needed help. Hook had to be told about this.

"Alright, look," Swindle said. "You need help, so I recommend that you tell Hook about this first thing in the morning or whatever is morning on this ship…. Okay, just tell him as soon as possible. Got that?" Scavenger nodded absentmindedly. "Alright good. Now, no offense, but please get the frag out of my room. Oh, and take that shovel with you too," Swindle told the Constructicon. Scavenger got up and took the shovel out the floor, after a little bit of loosening it up. It got stuck real good. Swindle hated to imagine what that would do to his face. Scavenger walked up the steps and to the door, but before he leave, he said something.

"Thanks Swindle," Scavenger told him.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Swindle said, heading to his berth.

"Oh, also sorry the destruct-"

"Don't say anything about that," Swindle interrupted him. "I'm already holding back the need to wring your neck for trying to kill me. I don't need to be reminded of what you did to my room. Now, leave before I consider using my scattershot on you," Swindle told him. Scavenger took his words and wisely left. Swindle went into recharging mode, hoping that nothing bad happens tomorrow.

He really needed a break.


	22. The Deadstation PT 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group gets ready to board.

Killshot walked into the bridge, energize from his recharge. On the table, he could see Hook and Misfire sitting at the far end of the table, arguing with each other about something he really didn't care about and both drinking from a cube of energon in-between their arguments, while Skywarp sitting in the chair on the left side of where Killshot usually sat with two cubes for him to drink from. Killshot went and grab a cube of energon before he took a seat in where in usually sat, trying to stay as far away from the other two at the end of the table. "So," he said to Skywarp, in a tone that explicitly sounded like he didn't care, "exactly what are they talking about?"

"I don't know," Skywarp answered in a similarly uninterested tone. "I lost the urge to give a damn about what they were arguing about a while ago." He took a drink from one of his cubes before continuing on. "From what I heard before I lost interest, it involved an appointment or something like that," Skywarp completed his statement before emptying the rest of the cube into his mouth.

"Oh, yeah. That makes sense. Hook is his psychiatrist," Killshot said. Skywarp looked interested at that comment.

"His psychiatrist?" he asked.

"Yeah, but I don't know what for. He has ADHD, but that doesn't seem like something a psychiatrist would be looking into," Killshot replied.

"Where do you think he got those scars from?" Skywarp asked him. Killshot looked at him with a slight air of interest.

"I don't know. My guess is that he got injured multiple times throughout his time his time serving in the army," Killshot commented.

"Yeah… you would be wrong on that," Skywarp commented. Killshot shot him a look that showed that he had his attention. "Starscream told me about him before. According to him and other people, he massively frag-upped a mission and got some personal one-on-one time with Megatron. Pretty much all of those scars are the result of that," Skywarp finished.

"Ouch," Killshot said, actually sounding sympathetic. Megatron was brutal. Still. This raise a question. "Exactly why did Megatron torture him instead of the DJD?" Skywarp shrugged at that.

"I don't know, but I heard that Blackout was a really close ally to him. Almost like Megatron and Soundwave. Misfire accidently killing him probably made it personal," Skywarp answer.

"Okay, got that, but why let him live?" Killshot asked.

"Now that I really don't know," Skywarp replied, interest lacing his voice at the thought. "Makes you wonder, doesn't it?"

"Maybe he was in a movie he really liked," Killshot hypothesize.

"I doubt it. Megatron was a gladiator. I doubt he had time to watch movies," Skywarp immediately shot him down.

"Alright, good point," Killshot agreed. "So, why is he still alive instead of being use for scrap metal?" he wondered aloud.

"Your guess is as good as mine," Skywarp replied. "Anyway, how long before we reach the ship?" he asked him. Unfortunately, that question gain the attention of the other end of the table.

"Wait, hold on," Hook interrupted. "What ship are we going to?"

"Yeah, I agree with Mr. Ego over here. What ship are we going to?" Misfire asked. Hook shot him a dirty look at that comment. Before either of the two could answer that, the door opened, letting in Swindle and Scavenger.

"And how it everybody doing today?" Swindle asked the room with a smile on his face, walking around to the end of the table while Scavenger grabbed a seat next to Hook.

"Exactly what ship are we going to?" Hook asked Swindle, completely ignoring the question. Swindle shared a look with Skywarp and Killshot, silently yelling at them while keeping his smile up. Skywarp looked away, pretending he wasn't there while Killshot shrugged his shoulders, clearly not giving a damn.

"Well, it's not a ship, but a space station," Swindle said, looking at Hook instead. We receive two distress signals from it: an Autobot and a Decepticon one. The space station is an Autobot one called The Apoptosis."

"Cell death," Misfire interrupted.

"Huh?" the room asked in unison

"The process of programmed cell death, that what apoptosis is," Misfire answered. Everybody looked at him strangely before someone yelled out…

"Nerd!" Skywarp shouted out.

"Screw you!" Misfire fired back, middle finger in the air.

"Shut up!" Swindle interrupted them. "You two can fight each other later when I'm not talking. Now as I was saying, the station is an Autobot one which means we should expect some trouble there. Everyone is participating in this mission, no exceptions. We should be arriving in a few cycles, so be prepared. I'll get on the intercom and call the other two up here," Swindle said, heading to the cockpit. He arrived and pressed the button to activate the intercom and was immediately met with feedback. "OW!' Swindle yelled aloud, along with everyone else in different ways. Swindle quickly lower the volume down before it could cause him more pain. "Fragging pits, I really need to fix the damn intercom. Attention Shockwave and Dead End, please get your gear ready. We're about to dock at the station," he said into the intercom and got off, walking back to the table. "Alright, final questions?" Swindle asked the room. He was met with silence. "Great. Get your gear ready and we'll check the station out," Swindle told the room and went back to the cockpit. Everybody got up and head out of the room to get there gear ready. Along the way, Skywarp shared a short conversation with Killshot.

"Honest question, do you think we're going to find the mercs that killed Thundercracker at the space station?" he asked Killshot.

"Nope. If I was them, I would be hiding out, not causing more trouble. Just be on the lookout for Autobots," Killshot told him.

XXX

Of course, Killshot was sort of right. They were not on the space station, but they were about to leave there safe haven and go after them. They were just going through procedure for lift off. Cooldown was on the radio, talking with ai as he was going through the motions for check off, sounding like he done it before several times. In the barracks, Warmup and Bombline was going through some weapons. "Path blaster?" Bombline asked.

"Check."

"Riot cannon?"

"Double check"

"Thermal rocket cannon?"

"Triple check!"

This went on for awhile until they reach the last weapon. "A-4 Pulsar cannon?"

"Oh Primus, check," Warmup said, sounding tired. "Everything is on the blasted ship. There's no need to go over every single one."

"You never know. Someone might've come on here and stolen something," Bombline said.

"You're paranoid."

"Attention, Bombline and Warmup. We're flying out of here in three, two, one." The thrusters came on and the ship started floating off the ground and causing the ship to shake a tiny bit.

"I hate this part!" Warmup complained out loud.

"Shut up!" Bombline yelled back.

The ship continue floating upwards and turning upwards as well. Cooldown guided everything expertly and got everything into place. "And here we go," he murmured to himself and pressed the ignition button. Suddenly the ship starting flying through the air at a rapid pace, gaining more speed as it went until it broke orbit and started flying through space. "Alright, we're good, "he spoke into the intercom. Bombline and Warmup came out of the barrack.

"Alright, good job," Bombline applauded Cooldown.

"Yeah, whatever. Tell me, how are we going to track Swindle down?" he asked him. Bombline was quiet at that, thinking it through, before replying.

"I don't know. I'll think of something." Warmup and Cooldown immediately facepalm.


	23. The Deadstation PT 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group boards the ship.

The group, sans Swindle, was waiting at the door out of the ship, waiting to be let out of the ship. Killshot and Skywarp were leaning beside the walls right next to the door with Killshot holding a photon burst rifle. Dead End and Misfire were behind Killshot while the two Constructicons were behind Skywarp and were holding subsonic repeaters. Shockwave was standing a bit away from the group, completely opposite of the door. Both Shockwave and Dead End were drinking energon cubes from not getting some earlier, although no one knew how Shockwave did it. Every time no one was optics were on him and they look back, a small amount was gone. Of course, none of them notice due to being occupied in their conversations. "Can tell me what happen on Espera?" Misfire asked Dead End. Dead End gave a shrug before answering.

"A little bit. We were, in order, attack by pirates, strike back at the pirates, and stole an Iacon relic from them," Dead End finished. Misfire looked at him a bit surprised.

"That's a little bit to you?" he asked in a disbelieved tone.

"I guess. We weren't injured, except for Killshot's ego a little bit. Overall, it was pretty successful," Dead End said monotonously.

"Yeah, I guess. Huh, quick question, what exactly is a Iacon Relic?" he asked Dead End.

"Just some items that Alpha Trion blasted into space to prevent us from claiming them," Dead End answered nonchalantly.

"Ah, so what was it?"

"A map of the universe, it looks like, and not just what we know," Dead End clarified the statement.

"Ah, and how big was it?" Misfire questioned, interested.

"You know the map that we have of the known universe?" A nod. "Well the map that was shown to us was about twenty times bigger than that."

"Damn," Misfire said, mulling that over, "the universe is big."

Over next to them, Killshot and Skywarp were chatting. "So," Skywarp began, "what do you think we'll run into inside the station?"

"My guest," Killshot said, with a little pause, thinking it over, "would be that we won't run into much."

"And why is that?"

"Well, since we're close to the station and we've not been shot at been its defenses yet, I said that the power is out over there. That means that they probably abandon the ship or our fellow Decepticons have taken over that base. Personally, I hope it's the latter. At least than we might have something to shoot at, even if they don't appreciate it," Killshot explain with a little smile. "Of course, I could be wrong, and we may have plenty of Autobots to shoot, which would be just as good with me."

"You really like shooting things, don't you?" Skywarp mutter a bit distastefully.

"Oh, come on. Don't pretend you don't like it either," Killshot said.

"I've been thinking things over, you know, after what happen to Thundercracker. I mean, I'm still going to kill that bastard who killed him, but I'm taking of taking a break after that. A long one," Skywarp explained in a more morose tone than usual. "I still need to get you back for the comment at the pirate base," he added indifferently.

"Uh what?" Killshot asked.

"Don't worry, you won't see it coming and you can't stop it, so stop worrying," Skywarp told him with an angry glare. Killshot took a couple of steps back from Skywarp at the glare, really not wanting face his wrath.

Next to them, Scavenger was explaining to Hook what happen last night in low tones, except for the parts about before he met him and the rest of the Constructicons. He figured that it wasn't important for Hook to know that. At the end of it, Hook gave a low curse, trying to think this through. "Are you sure this is the first time you've seen the voice?" he whispered. Scavenger nodded at that. "Alright, so a very recent symptom. Anything else?"

"No."

"Alright, I'll look more into this once we're done with the station," Hook inform. "Just keep your head together and everything will be just fine. Alright?" Scavenger nodded.

"Just got to keep my head together," Scavenger repeated to himself mostly. "I can do that."

"Everybody ready?" Swindle addressed the group, walking towards them.

"We're here?" Misfire asked in a slight disbelieving tone.

"Yeah," Swindle answered quickly.

"Damn, you really landed the ship softly," he remarked.

"That's because I didn't land us in it. We're right next to a entrance port for ships like mine to send in people. Now, everybody got a weapon, right?" Swindle asked everyone. Everyone showed the weapons they were holding while Skywarp and Misfire turned their hands into blasters. However, Swindle took notice of Killshot's weapon. "Where did you get that?" he asked.

"From the cargo hold," Killshot answered.

"So that's mine rifle what you're saying," Swindle clarified.

"Uh, maybe," Killshot replied a little nervously. Swindle gave a frustrated sigh at that.

"Alright, look. If you break it, you buy it. Understand?" Swindle asked his employee.

"You got it," Killshot confirmed.

"Now, if there's nothing else," Swindle said, pressing the button to open the door, "let's get going." The door open, showing a little tunnel with a door at the end of it. Swindle walked to the door, everybody slowly following him with Shockwave backing up the rear. The group reached the door and Swindle opened the door. The door slide apart with a loud hiss, letting the group into a beige hallway. The group walked into the hallway and looked around the area. The hallway was abandoned of any life and there were energon stains all across the floor, indicating that violence had occurred here at one point. Aside from that, the area was clear of hostiles and there were no clear threats.

"Alright," Skywarp asked aloud to Swindle, "what do we do now?"

"Simple, we're splitting up. Killshot," he said, pulling out a device, "catch." He tossed the device at Killshot who catch it and looked at it. "A map of the station with two dots on it," he muttered aloud.

"Those would be the distress signals. You go find the Decepticons distress signal while I found the Autobot one. Take Hook, Scavenger, and Misfire with you," Swindle ordered him.

"Alright, let's go everybody. Let's see if anybody alive on this station," he told them, walking left. Everybody followed him.

"Alright, the rest of us, let us go find that Autobot distress signal and see what happen here," he ordered the group. Everyone follow him going to the right side of the hallway.


	24. The Deadstation PT 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Killshot's group find the signal.

"So, why did Swindle put us together?" Hook asked the group as they were walking through the hallway. "I mean, if you split us up, why not put a medic in each group?"

"I really don't know and I really don't care," Killshot answered, looking at his map to make sure they were going the right way. Some of the lights were either blinking at random intervals or completely off, which, including the energon smeared across the wall, was giving the affect of a horror movie. "Just shut up about it. We're almost there. Just a right up ahead follow by a left and then we enter a room through the third door on the right side. Good thing we got this. The other one's a lot longer, about halfway through the station," he told the group.

"Am I the only one that finds this place really creepy," Misfire asked the group. Take a right…

"No, you're not the only one," Scavenger whispered just loud enough for everyone to hear him.

"Yeah. This is like that one movie I was in. Oh, what was it called?" Misfire murmured, trying to figure it out. "Oh, yeah! It was this horror flick called 'Imminent Death.' Boy, was that a fun," Misfire said, caught in his memories.

"Were you the lead who faced off against the thing that was killing everything?" Killshot asked.

"Nah, I was just a guy that got tossed into a grinder halfway through it," Misfire told him flatly.

"Ouch."

"Tell me about it. You should've seen the special effects. I was ripped completely apart!" Misfire exclaim.

"I don't think you're supposed to be happy about being killed," Scavenger whispered, a little confuse.

"Hey, you take what you could get," Misfire explained. Take a left…

"Alright, we're near the beacon. Everybody, relax and play nice. I really don't want to get in another firefight today," Killshot told the group as the near the door.

"It could be an ambush," Hook said. "The Autobots could've use it to lure us here." Killshot shared a brief glance at him and check his weapon to make sure it was ready to fire. He could be right. He could be wrong. You never know.

"Alright, we're here. I'll open the door. The rest of you, follow me," Killshot instructed the group as he reached for a button by the door. The door creak opened at a slow place. Killshot looked through the expanding crack that was being made as it open. No light was coming from the room, which made him a bit uncomfortable and lessened his hope of finding anyone. This station must've been abandon a long time ago. As he wondered about the emptiness of the ship, the door came to a sudden halt halfway open. "Dammit," Killshot muttered and started hitting the button again to no effect. "Open, you fraggin' door."

"You're okay, pinhead?" Misfire asked the frustrated sniper.

"No, the damn door is stuck. Autobot maintenance sucks. Let me pull this door open," he told them as he lean his gun on the wall and grabbed a hold of the door. "Fragging Autobots," he said under his breath as he began pulling the door. "Can't even take care of their doors," he said, under the screech of the door being pulled open. The sound of it was ranging from midly unpleasant to a serious offense to the audio senses. It wasn't long before the door was completely pulled open and he grabbed his gun. "Alright, let's see who's here," he said as he entered the room and turned on the lights.

The room light up, but, like the hallways, they were flickering on and off at random. "That's really starting to annoy me," Killshot murmured as he looked around the room. It looked to be a lab of some source. The room was painted pure white colored, but was stain by energon on just about everything from the floor to the flipped over tables. Broken glass was also on the floor indicating some glassware broke open. Overall, it wasn't a good thing.

"Wow, place looks like scrap," Misfire said behind him. Hook followed Misfire into the room. Scavenger volunteered to stay in the hallway.

"Looks like a struggle happen here. A very violent one and involve more than one person, considering the amount of energon," Hook said, a little disturbed at the shape of the room.

"Yeah, no kidding," Killshot said, walking towards the back of the room. The signal should be right there…. "Found it," Killshot said, grabbing a red sphere from the floor. He looked at it, a little confuse. "Strange. You would think something Decepticon made would be purple," Killshot muttered.

"That's because that's not Decepticon made," Hook said, grabbing it from his hand. "Are you sure this is where the distress signal is coming from?" Hook asked him.

"Positive. Why?"

"Because this isn't a distress signal. It's a 'Frequencyshifter.' It changes frequencies to match other ones perfectly," hook said.

"Like a Decepticon distress signal. Frag…" Killshot said and tried to contact Swindle. All he got was static. "Dammit. Comms. are not working."

"What's wrong?" Misfire asked them.

"I think we've walked into a trap," Killshot said.

"AH!" a screamed came from the hallways.

"Frag, Scavenger!" Hook yelled, immediately running out of the room. He looked around and saw a door opened that certainly wasn't opened before. "Hold on," Hook said. He ran, hoping to Primus that he was okay. He reached the door and was about to enter when Scavenger tumble. "Frag, Scavenger what's wrong."

"D-d-dead people! Lots of them," he yelled manically. Hook looked at him odd before looking into the room.

What was inside it disturbed him greatly.

Dead bodies littered the room in various degrees of rust. Some laid on the floor while others hanged from the ceiling on hooks or wires. A few of them we strapped to tables. All of them held an expression of agony. "Oh, frag," Hook muttered under his breath. Misfire and Killshot catch up to them and took a look in the room.

"Woah," Misfire said, entering the room and looking around. "This is sick! Who keeps a collection of bodies?" Misfire asked them.

"I don't know," Killshot said, staying out of the room, "but I don't want to find out. Let's go find Swindle and get out of here."

"Hold on a sec, let me look at something," Misfire said, looking at the bodies. "There's something odd about them."

"What?" Killshot asked.

"There factions are different. This guy here is an Autobot. This one is a Decepticon. Frag, we even got a neutral right here," Misfire told him.

"Well that's great. Now can we go?" Killshot said, looking impatient.

"Hold on, I think I see a working computer," Misfire said, walking farther back onto the room. "Yep, definitely works. Let me see what going on here," Misfire told him.

"Well hurry up, Killshot said and pay attention to the two medics. "Is he alright?" he asked Hook in a worried.

"He's fine. He's just shocked. He's seen dead bodies before, but never that much. And I must admit, neither have I. There must be at least thirty in there," Hook said, a slight tone of fear entering his voice.

"Yeah, I admit that I've done some fragged up things, but never something that bad," Killshot admitted before turning his attention back to Misfire. "Hey, you've found something."

"Yeah, apparently there's some experimenting going on here. Looked like they tested something dark energon," Misfire told him.

"Dark energon?" Killshot asked.

"The blood of Unicorn, according to some churches. They were testing to see what it effects are on people. They were doing it on live bodies, mostly capture Decepticons and some neutrals. It doesn't sat anything about the results, just what they were doing. At least, that what it does for a little while. A bit after, there's this guy here who talks like a mad scientist. Talk about reanimating the dead. Hey, you want to know about this zombie movie I was in?"

"NO!" Killshot answered immediately.

"Fine," Misfire huffed. "Anyway, it just this guy rambling on about reanimating dead until it just stops. The last data log was… 7 megacycles ago. Oh, boy. That means the guy is probably still on the ship."

"Really now. So the guy responsible for this is still here?" he asked.

"Probably."

"Well then, on our way out, I'll put a bullet through his spark if I see him. This is just sick. Why the hell were the Autobots doing this? Even Shockwave doesn't do this," Killshot wondered.

"I don't know," Misfire said, stepping over the corpses back to him. "How many of these rooms have corpses in them you think?"

"I really don't want to know," Killshot said, clearly disturbed by that though. "So, how are we going to get back to Swindle. Just backtrack over to him?" he wondered.

"I don't know," Misfire said, studying the floor. "Tell me, does that energon look fresh to you," Misfire said, pointing to a small drop of energon. Killshot looked at it before kneeling down to touched it.

"It's still a liquid. Hasn't stained the floors yet," Killshot observed.

"Which means, someone's probably still alive," Misfire said.

"From the look of the way it splatters, whoever it was was heading for the end of the hall we didn't come from," Killshot said. "Question is: do we follow it?"

"I say yes," Hook said, gain a look from the other two. "Whoever did this is trying to kill us and our fellow Decepticons. If this leads us to him, I say we take it," Hook explained.

"Alright then. You're alright Scavenger?" Killshot asked the scared medic.

"Yeah," Scavenger said, getting up. "I'm good. Let's go get this sick person," Scavenger, anger seeping into his voice.

"Alright than, we hunt this guy down and regroup with Swindle as soon as we can," Killshot told the group. "Stick together, okay. I don't want to lose anybody ," Killshot told the group, before heading towards the end of the hallway with everyone following him.


	25. Encounter PT 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Swindle's group runs into some zombies.

"This place is creepy," Skywarp muttered to the group as they walked through the hallways. Energon caked the surface of just about everything in there and certain lights kept blinking in sporadic intervals, so his statement was partially justified. They were making good time in heading for the beacon. They were three-quarters of the way there and hadn't encountered anything yet.

"Eh, I've visited worse places," Swindle replied to his comment, earning a look from him.

"Just where have you been that's more messed up than this place?" he asked him.

"I visit a lot of different worlds and have a lot of clients. A few of those places and people are really, really screwed up," Swindle answered. "We're almost there," he told everybody. "Just take a right here…" Turn right. "… and then we take two consecutive lefts…" Swindle's voice went down to a whisper as he and everyone else stopped. Someone was standing in the middle of the hallway with their head hang down and their arms at the side, hanging limply. Swindle gesture everybody to stay back as he walked towards the figure.

"Hey, you're alright," Swindle whispered to the figure, his gun aimed at it. It didn't respond to him. Swindle was getting a better look at the figure and saw several holes in him and could see some of the circuitry. Also, there was a strange purple light coming from the holes. That… wasn't supposed to happen. Swindle had almost reached him and continue pointing the gun at him. "Hey!" That got its attention.

The being turned slowly towards him. The first thing Swindle saw was that half of its face was missing, allowing a clear view into its head. The other half was intact, although the optic was hanging limply from its socket, wires barely connecting it. The strange purple light came from every orifice on its body. "What the frag…." Swindle whispered. The being roar in response and started limping towards in him with, Swindle just notice, a severally injure left leg. There was a large hole in it, showing off more circuitry that was glowing a purplish color. "Uh, okay," Swindle said, backing up from the creature, "what in the pit is that thing!"

"It appears to be alive, despite lacking functions to survive," Shockwave replied behind him.

"So you're saying that it's undead," Dead End summarized.

"Exactly," Shockwave said.

"Great, so how do we kill it!?"Swindle yelled, still backing away from the undead cybertronian. It was very slow, agonizing so.

"Shoot it," Shockwave answer. Swindle tuned to look at him for giving such a simple answered. "It is unknown why it is alive, so it is best to do something that has shown to terminate successfully. Now fire," Shockwave told him. Swindle turned back to the limping undead and aimed for the head.

BANG!

The shot took the beings head off and sent it stumbling back. However, despite the lack of a head, it was still standing and limping towards Swindle. "Oh, come on!"Swindle said, giving a dejected look.

"Shoot it again!" Skywarp yelled.

BANG!

The next shot took its arm off, sending it away from the undead. However, it kept coming. "Oh, fragging Primus!" Swindle yelled. He felt a tap on his shoulder. He turn around to see Dead End.

"Let me," Dead End ordered.

"Be my guess. It certainly can't be worst than me," Swindle grumbled, stepping out of Dead End's way. Dead End took aim with his rifle and steady himself…

Crack! Crack! Crack!

The next three shots went through the chest of the being and pierced its spark, sending the creature tumbling to the ground. The four of them looked at the creature lying on the ground, seeing if it would get back up. When it became evident that it wouldn't get back up again, the group walked towards the re-killed cybertronian. The four of them examine the corpse. "So, zombies. Wow. I can't believe they actually exist," Skywarp said, slightly surprise.

"It's not a zombie. It's a… it's a…," Dead End said, trying to come up with a answer. "Okay, I don't know what it is, but it is not a zombie."

"It is, technically, a zombie," Shockwave interrupted the two.

"You can't be serious," Dead End said, surprised.

"It was impossible for it to be alive, and yet it was. Therefore, since we like a common term to use, it is a zombie," Shockwave explained.

"Doesn't matter. We proved that we can kill them and that's the important part," Swindle cut in. "The question is, who the frag made this abomination?" Swindle asked the group.

"I have a theory on who he is. There is a scientist amongst the Autobots whose sanity is questionable and would be willing to do something like these. His name is-"

Clang!

The group turn from the direction that they came from. It sounded close by.

Clang!

The door. It was coming from a door behind them.

Clang!

That was from a door in front of them.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

"Uh, what's that?" Skywarp asked the group. Suddenly the door behind them gave away with a massive thud, letting a whole hoard of zombies out. And they were running.

"Run for the distress signal!" Swindle yelled and everyone started running. The group ran as hard as they could running past one of the clanging doors when

Thud!

It came down, letting out another group of zombies that the Decepticons barely missed. The Decepticons made a quick left and kept running for the other end of the hall. The middle of the hall split left or right. They kept running, gaining some area ahead of the zombies. They were going to make.

Thud!

A door ahead of them near the end of the hallway pop open, letting in some more zombies and blocking some more zombies. "Slag! Alright, take a left right now!" Swindle told the group. They took the turn and kept running. The zombies were still determine to rip them apart.

"Why the frag are they trying to kill us!?" Skywarp asked the group.

"I assume that they are attracted to energon," Shockwave replied, whose voice was somehow still monotone despite the giant horde of zombies chasing them.

"Then why don't they just lick the floor?!" Skywarp yelled out. "I'm sure there's enough on that to last a lifetime!"

"Right!" Swindle yelled out and the group turned right, still running from the undead.

"They're probably attracted to fresh energon. The ones on the floor are spoiled and not healthy enough for them," Shockwave summarize.

"Are you're telling me that zombies are picky eaters!?" Skywarp asked.

"Unfortunately. Either that or they just want to kill something. Both are likely"

"Left!" The group turned as one. At the end of the hallway was heavy steel doors that the zombies wouldn't able to break into. They were still out-running the zombies. They were nearing the door, their feet clanging on the floor. The zombies were still after them. They had to run, run, run….

"Open, you damn door!" Swindle yelled, pushing a button. The door grinded open slowly, much to Swindle frustration. "Faster, damn you!"

"Zombies coming!" Dead End yelled.

"Skywarp, use your missiles!" Swindle ordered.

"Gladly," Skywarp agreed and armed his missiles. He took aimed at them. "Eat this!" HE fired and the missile was sent spiraling from his arm and towards the zombies.

BOOM!

The explosion rip through the zombies in a mixture of purple liquid and gore, Splattering the walls, floor, and ceiling. Skywarp looked over his work with a slight maniacal grin. "That was satisfying," he murmured.

"Door is open! Get in!" Swindle told the group. The group got in and Swindle pressed the button for the door to close. The clanging indicated that more zombies were coming. The door was halfway there. Zombies were crossing the corner and heading for them. Door was three-quarters of a way there. Zombie were about to reach them.

The door closed shut.

"Well, that was close," Swindle said as the zombies kept on banging on the doors, "but at least we're safe."

Click!

"Spoke too soon," Swindle murmured, turning around to stare at the barrel of a gun.


	26. Encounter PT 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Killshot's group find a body.

Killshot's group was tracking the fresh energon on the ground with Killshot leading in the front, Hook and Scavenger in the middle watching the sides, and Misfire watching the flank. So far, they've encounter nothing yet and some of the group was hoping it would stay that way. The group was mostly silent, except for the constant whimper Scavenger had as he aimed his rifle in just about every direction. "I swear," Killshot interrupted the silence, "if we die here, I'm staying away from Primus just long enough to rip Swindle a new one."

"Can you leave room for me?" Hook asked him.

"Why, of course I can. I might need someone to help me hold him down as I rip him apart limb from limb," Killshot happily replied.

"Just make sure I get to rip one of those off," Hook told him. The group trudged on a little more, hoping to reach a endpoint soon.

"So," Misfire decided to interrupt the silence too, "anybody got people they care about that they'll leave behind if they die?"

"Eh, not really," Hook replied, earning Scavenger attention.

"What about me?" Scavenger asked in a kicked puppy tone.

"Eh, you're alright," Hook answered rather coldly, "but you're more than likely going to die with me, so the point is moot," he added, turning his attention towards the sniper. "And what about you, triple M. You don't seem like the kind of guy to have many friends," Hook said, trying to get a rise out of him, although he didn't get.

"I got exactly one thing I care about in this universe and that's money," Killshot replied calmly.

"Nice to know you and Swindle have similar interests," Hook replied back, once again searching for a rise. Killshot didn't replied back, keeping his optics on the trail. "I've wonder if you ever fragged someone. I know Swindle properly has," Hook said.

"Why, cause he's such a smooth talker?" Killshot asked. "Does he turned you on?" he added to his statement.

"No to both of those and how dare you think I would interface with someone as deceptive as Swindle," Hook huffed. "The reason why is cause he told me of this femme he dated called Thunderblast and-"

"Hold it," Killshot said, cutting into his sentence. "Swindle said he dated Thunderblast?" he asked.

"Yes. Why does this interest you?" Hook asked.

"Because I know Thunderblast and I can confirm that Swindle has never even met her," Killshot answered.

"You're saying Swindle lied to… I'm a idiot for believing him," Hook moaned, slapping his palm into his face.

"Nice of you to finally see the light," Killshot said, turning around a corner and abruptly stopping. "Oh, frag," he muttered.

"What?" Hook asked before turning around the corner. "Scrap."

"Uh," Scavenger asked before seeing what it is also. "Slag…"

Okay, what it is?" Misfire asked impatiently before seeing what it is as well."Sweet," Misfire said, earning their attention. "What?"

"You said 'sweet' to zombies mauling a corpse," Killshot pointed out, which was indeed what it was. About five zombies of varying size were smashing, grabbing, and tearing out circuitry from a large bulky body. Around them were the corpses of several others, looking very rusted. Probably zombies that the mauled figure killed before getting overwhelmed.

"Well, I'm sorry. This is just reminding me of this movie I was in called-"

"Not. Now," Hook growled out, emphasizing both words and shutting him up. "Question is, how do we kill them?" Hook asked.

"Just go for the spark," Misfire simply said, earning the attention of everyone. "What, it's how we killed them in the movie," Misfire replied.

"This isn't a movie. This is reality, so start treating this as that," Hook scolded him.

"Dude, zombies," Misfire said, putting special attention to zombies. "I think reality left when they became involve," Misfire pointed out.

"Uh, guys. I think they've notice us," Scavenger interrupted the two and pointed his fingers at the zombies, who were just now seeing them.

"Let's see if what you said works," Killshot said, taking aim with his rifle.

Crack Crack Crack

He fired his gun at the closest zombie and the being hit the floor almost immediately, not moving anymore. "I'll be damn," Hook muttered behind him. "That actually worked."

"Alright everybody, take aim at a zombie of your choosing and fire," Killshot told them and everyone line up taking aim at the zombies, who were moving rather slowly. Everyone took aimed…

Crack Crack Crack Crack Crack Crack Choom Choom

All of the zombies felled except for one, the one Misfire was suppose to kill. The three looked at his gigantic failure. "Ah, screw it. I'll just do it the old fashion way," he replied, turning his blasters back to hands and started walking towards the zombie. "Why shoot," he said, the distance between them crossed and him raising his hand, "when you can stab," he finished, sending his hand straight through the rusted out metal and out the other side, spark in hand. He ripped his arm out of the being and let it tumble unto the ground."Well that's one problem done and about 99 more to go," Misfire said.

"So exact of you," Killshot said, walking towards the corpse that the zombies were mauling.

"Well, I can't believe I'm saying this, but that was a good idea," Hook said, giving him a pat on the back.

"Wow, that's new. You've always scolded me before," Misfire reacted to the pat.

"That's cause you never shut up, you're almost never works, and you're a mental nutcase, but this was a good idea and I have to admit that," Hook said, earning the ire of Scavenger, who looked just a tat jealous. Hook never gave him a compliment like that.

"Hey, I think I know this guy," Killshot said to the group, earning two of their attention. The other one was still looking at them in an 'I'm so going to kill you' matter.

"And who may he be," Hook asked.

"Well it's a little hard to tell, due to all the parts of him missing, but I think this guy is Demolisher. Recognize his yellow red color pattern. I worked with him over at Dabola. Nice guy. Big fan of the Decepticon cause, but not Megatron. Absolutely hated by Lugnut, the one without a z at the end of his name," he specified. He looked around the hallway. "I don't see his partner amongst the corpses. Must still be alive around here somewhere," Killshot noticed.

"Partner?" Misfire asked.

"Cyclone. He transforms into one of those copters. Really crazy. Has pink on him for some reason I'll never understand," Killshot replied, looking around. "You would think we would hear him. He's always causing a riot."

"That's not important. Question is where do we go now? The only trail we have right now has gone cold," Hook wondered.

"Hold on. I'll see if I can contact Swindle," he said, trying to contact him. "Yo, Swindle. Can you hear me now?" Killshot asked.

"Yes, I can, now shut up," Swindle told him icily over the comms. "I'm in an important conversation right now. I'll contact you in a little while," Swindle ordered him, leaving static on the other line.

"Well?" Hook asked.

"I think Swindle found some survivors," Killshot told the group.

"So what do we do?" Misfire asked him. Killshot looked around the area.

"The place looks cleard so I said we hang out here for a little while until Swindle contacts us with some instructions," Killshot told the group. "Any objections?" he asked he grouped."Alright, let's get in position"


	27. Encounter PT 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Swindle plans a way to get rid of the zombies.

Swindle stared at the barrel of a gun, cursing himself and taking note of what gun the barrel is attached too, figuring out of how much damage it might do and how much money he could make from it. He also peer his optics around and saw that everyone else was having a gun pointing at them. Dead End and Shockwave was both showing as little emotions as possible while Skywarp was cursing very loudly. Well, it looked like they might've walked into a trap and really screwed up. The gun charging brought his attention back to the gun and looked at the figure holding the gun at him. His colors were a trifecta of green shades with some yellow around the chest and his optics were a light yellow. As soon as Swindle saw his cold smirk, he could put a name to him and he really hated him.

"Gutcruncher," Swindle growled out, drawing the name out.

"Swindle," Gutcruncher replied back smoothly. "How are you doing?" he asked him.

"Just fine, aside from the fact that I'm talking to you," Swindle replied back in disdain.

"Oh, you're not worry about the gun pointed at you?" he asked him.

"Nah, it might end my suffering a little quicker," Swindle replied back.

"Oh, come on, I'm not that bad," Gutcruncher said, trying to comfort him.

"Oh, please. You're me without the morals," Swindle replied back.

"You have morals?!" Skywarp snarked. "Consider me surprise."

"Shut it!" Swindle yelled at him.

"Ahem," Gutcruncher said, trying to gain the bickering 'Cons attention. "Now, look, while I enjoy having you at my mercy, I'm afraid we have bigger problems," he said, holstering his gun back and gesturing to the others to put there's up as well. "The thing is, we're stuck on a station full of whatever those things are-"

"Zombies," Shockwave interrupted. Gutcruncher looked at him, a bit stunned.

"Did he just say what I think he said," he asked.

"Yeah, he did. It's been a… surprising day," Dead End replied.

"Right, as I was saying, we're stuck on a ship with… zombies and we need to figure how to take care of it," Gutcruncher said. "So, any idea?"

"Wait, first off, where are we?" Swindle asked him.

"We're on the bridge of the station. The cockpit is right over there," he said, pointing to his right.

"Why don't we just fly the ship towards the nearest planet. That'll kill most of them," Dead End suggested.

"No go. That'll destroy basically everything worthwhile here, making this trip a absolute waste of time," Gutcruncher disagreed. "Besides, the nearest thing you can crash it into would take this thing over a thousand joors to reach. That would be far too long for any of us," he reasoned.

"Alright, so what do we do?" Swindle asked. The room was silent at that, trying to think of idea.

"A question," Shockwave wanted to question Gutcruncher.

"Shoot," Gutcruncher said, giving the go ahead.

"Where is your ship?" Shockwave asked. "We didn't see it on the outside as we connected to the ship.

"In the hanger," he complied. "Small ships like mine can fit in there with ease," he explained.

"And how did you enter the base?" Shockwave pressed him for more information.

"The hanger has a giant door that opens to allows ships to enter and a force field is use that allow ships to enter, but doesn't send everyone out to space when it opens," he complied again. "Just where are you going with this?"

"Swindle, I believe if could lure the zombies to the hanger, we could deactivate the force field and eject the zombies out of the ship," Shockwave informed him.

"Great, now I got another question for Gutcruncher. What the frag brought you here?" he asked him.

"It's an Autobot space station. There's bound to be many things here which could be sell for a lot of money. Why else do you think I would be here?" he told the Decepticon.

"Well, since we're helping you, I figure I could take some of the cut," Swindle informed him.

"Oh really? And just how much do you want?" he asked.

"50%" Swindle told him.

"Ouch," Gutcruncher replied, imitating getting hurt. "I see why they call you Swindle. How about 10%?" he coaxed him.

"Uh, no. How about 45%?" Swindle asked.

"15%," Gutcruncher stated.

"40%," Swindle coerced.

"20%."

"35%."

"I'm sticking to 20%."

"Yo, Swindle. Can you hear me now?" Killshot interrupted on Swindle's comm. link. Swindle gestured to Gutcruncher to hold on a moment.

"Yes, I can, now shut up," Swindle told him icily over the comms. "I'm in an important conversation right now. I'll contact you in a little while," Swindle ordered him, leaving static on the other line and returned back to the conversation. "Alright, listen up. 30%. That's as low as I'm going, understand?"

"And why should I take that?" Gutcruncher asked.

"Because, Skywarp can teleport me and my group out of here and leave you here stranded to try and get rid of the zombies yourself. Now, 30% of your profits are a suitable expenditure for helping you rid the zombies, isn't it?" he asked. He could see Gutcruncher optics grow just a little more hostile. Obvious, he had put him in a bind.

"Fine," he conceded. "Now, how are we going to get the zombies to the hanger?" he asked.

"Let me think that through," he said, getting back to Killshot. "Hey, you're still there?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm here. I tried to contact you earlier, but something was blocking my signal. So, what's up?" he asked.

"Have you ran into any -I hate to say this word- zombies?" he questioned.

"Yeah, a few. They were a bit busy disassembling a Decepticon, called Demolisher, that got overwhelmed. We killed them, but it was too late to save him," Killshot informed him. "Cyclone is going to be a little sad, if I do say so myself. Swindle looked at Gutcruncher's men. Two of them were just regular grounder, arguing with each other about who had the better name. One was a solid orange with black highlights and yellow optics. The other was a light shade of gray with some spikes around his shoulders and a single one on his fore head along with solid white optics. The only other soldier was a helicopter with a oddly colorful mixture of gold, purple, white, and pink and his rotors looked like blades on his arm. He was currently pestering Skywarp and there was a certain mischievous glint in his green optics.

"Exactly what does Cyclone look like?" he asked.

"He's a helicopter and you probably won't forget him when you see him. He has a very flashy mixture of gold, white, purple, and-"

"Pink with green optics?" Swindle asked.

"Uh, yeah. Exactly. He's with you right now, is he?" Killshot asked.

"Yep."

"Oh, well go gently will you. He can be pretty sensitive about things," he warned him.

"Yeah, sure. Hey, Cyclone!" he shouted. The helicopter dug himself from his 'conversation' with Skywarp. "What?!" he asked.

"Demolisher dead, just saying," Swindle informed him flatly.

"What?" Cyclone asked, a bit confused. Swindle ignored him and went back to his conversation.

"He's been informed of his lost. I think I was very gentle with him," Swindle said, almost sounding sincere. Almost.

"Yeah, definitely," Killshot replied sardonically.

"Listen. We got a way to get rid of the zombies. We just need to get them to the hanger and deactivate the force field. That'll send the zombies out of the ship. The question is, how do we lure them in there?" he wondered.

"Well, from what've I saw, these guys react to sound. Just create a lot of noise in the hanger and that'll lure them there," advised him.

"Okay, great. Now, what do we use?" Swindle asked.

"Uh, hold on. Hey, Hook?" he asked, leaving Swindle alone. "Is there possibly a way to use that frequencyshifter to lure zombies somewhere?" A few seconds of silence. "Really? How?" More silence. "Neat. Alright Swindle, we got a plan to lure them there. We just have to get there, which shouldn't be much of a problem," he informed him.

"Alright, get there quickly. I'm sending Skywarp there to scout the area for you. I'll inform you when to use it," Swindle informed him.

"Understand. Killshot out." The comm. went to static, leaving Swindle alone. Swindle turned backed to Gutcruncher. "So, where on the bridge can we turned the force field off?" he asked.

"Not here," Gutcruncher informed him.

"Come again?" Swindle replied back, a little confused.

"We have to turn them off at the security office," Gutcruncher told him.

"Oh, come on! Can't things just be easy this one time?" Swindle complained before pulling up his map and quickly locating. "Alright, it's not that far. Unfortunately, the zombies are blocking the only way out," Swindle complained.

"You could take the vents," Gutcruncher informed him.

"Vents?" Swindle asked.

"Here, let me show you," Gutcruncher said, climbing atop a desk and slide a certain panel aside. "There. Zombies aren't smart enough to use the vents so you can use them to reach the security office safely," he informed him.

"Alright. Hey Skywarp!" he yelled for his seeker.

"What?" he asked, thankful for something that would take his mind off Cyclone having a breakdown.

"Teleport to the hanger and scout the area. Gutcruncher will show you a map to teleport you there," he ordered him.

"Got it."

"Dead End, you're with me along with the two arguing like no tomorrow," Swindle said. "I can use them, right?" Swindle asked Gutcruncher.

"Go ahead. I see no point of them being here when they could go shoot something with you and be useful," he informed him.

"Alright, uh… what's their names?" he asked him.

"Sinnertwin and Slayride," he informed him.

"Sweet names," Swindle commented. "Alright, Sinnertwin and Slayride, you two are with me and Dead End." The two looked towards Swindle and started walking towards him, while still arguing who had the better name. "Shockwave," he said, walking up to him and talking in hushed tones, "stay here and helped Gutcruncher out with anything he needs and consult with Cyclone about the fate of his partner. I know it's hard for you to do that, but I trust you can do it," Swindle told him.

"I find your trust in me… illogical," he replied back to Swindle.

"Yeah, whatever. Alright you three," he yelled out to Dead End, Slayride, and Sinnertwin, "time to go get rid of some zombies."


	28. Float PT 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Killshot's group heads to the hanger while Swindle's group crawls through the vents.

Killshot's group was making their way through the halls to the hanger, killing any zombies they run into on the way. Killshot and Hook were leading from the front while Scavenger and Misfire stayed behind them to finish any that wasn't completely dead and to make sure that they didn't get flank. It was a good system and they were making good progress, being 3/4th of the way to the hanger using the quickest route the map provided. The zombies were sparsely populated so far and they were having an easy time mowing through them. "How much longer?" Hook asked Killshot.

"We take a left here, follow by-" Crack! "-a right," Killshot answered the question, as they took the left. Hook gave a nod at that and kept firing at any zombie he saw. "Are you sure the Frequencyshifter will work?" Killshot questioned him.

"Positive. All you got to do is change the frequency to something hearable and make it loud enough for all the zombies to hear-"

"Which will draw all of them to the hanger, but what makes you think-" Crack! A zombie came around the corner, running, to kill them, but it took a shot to the spark before it could get close. "that they are attracted by sound?" he asked.

"The zombie that you just shot came running around the corner for us. Obviously, he heard the gun and came for us," Hook told him.

"Ah, makes since," Killshot agreed.

"Well, I am smarter than you," Hook bragged.

"And your paint job is horrible," Killshot countered as the turned right around the corner. At the end of the zombie-free hall was the door to the hanger. "Alright everybody, pick it up! Hanger is straight ahead!" he yelled out to them as they picked up the pace. The four quickly cover the distance without any incidence and pressed the button to open the door, letting it swoosh open. "Get in!" he shouted to everybody, which they did swiftly. He followed suit and close the door around them. With that done, he looked around the hanger.

It was a big place, colored a normal white. There were ships laying around the place, taking up space. Some of them were small and others almost reached the ceiling 5 stories up. And right on top of the tallest one…

"What's up?" … was Skywarp.

"Why the frag are you here?" Killshot asked a little angrily.

"Geez, no need to be rude," Skywarp muttered. "Anyway, Swindle told me to come here and do some recon, make sure the hanger was safe for you guys," Skywarp answered.

"I'm guessing Swindle concentrating on getting that barrier down," he said, pointing to the near transparent barrier.

"You got it," Skywarp answered, "so we should set up. I talked to Gutcruncher before we left and-"

"Gutcruncher?" Misfire interrupted.

"Some guy who's helping us. Anyway, as I was saying, Gutcruncher said we could use his ship," he said, stomping his foot to indicate the ship they would use, "to hide in once the barriers go down. Ships are clamp to the floor, so they won't be sucked out," Skywarp told the group.

"Alright, sounds simple enough," Killshot agreed.

"Good, now how are we going to attract them? Swindle didn't tell me?"

XXX

Swindle crawled through the tight vents (for him), looking at his maps of the vents in one hand and his Scatterblaster in the other. The less bulky trio behind him had no problem with the vents and we're crawling through just fine. "I hate this idea," Swindle murmured, although everybody easily heard it.

"Claustrophobic?" Dead End asked.

"A little bit, but that's not the problem. The problem is that the vents are so small, I can barely crawl through this damn thing," Swindle responded angrily.

"Yes, you are a bit bulky, despite you're short stature," Dead End agreed behind him.

"Tell me about it. You know what my nickname around some circles was?" Swindle asked him.

"Knowing how uncreative we can be, I'm guessing shorty," Dead End answered.

"Exactly, and it's even worse when it comes from people that are shorter than you. 'Hey, I'm at least a head taller than you, smartaft, so keep your mouth shut.' Honestly, it pisses me off." Swindle complained.

"I can't help but notice you speak in the past tense," Dead End said, trying to figure out why everyone stopped calling him that.

"After Brawl die, I became a little more… angry. Not long after he died, somebody called me shorty again. After that remark, I lost it. I caved his face in by punching it repeatedly and then ripping his spark-chamber out with my bear hands," Swindle told him. "Nobody called me shorty after that," he added.

"Damn," Dead End replied, a little surprise. "Isn't that a little disproportionate."

"Maybe, but my whole gestalt freaked out when he died, especially Vortex and Onslaught." Swindle stopped and craned –or try to- his head to Dead End. "How about what happen to you after Motormaster died?"

"I didn't do anything," Dead End answered coldly.

"Really?" Swindle asked, surprised, as he turned his head forward and kept crawling.

"Yes," Dead End confirmed.

"Wow, you're cold. Even Blast Off reacted to Brawl's death," Swindle told him, suspicious of his claim. He stopped again, suddenly. "We're here," Swindle told them.

"Finally!" Slayride yelled behind them. "Hearing you two talked was boring me," he complained.

"Why don't you complain to Sinnertwin how your name is better than his?" Swindle asked behind him.

"I would, but the stupid bipolar idiot is keeping his mouth shut, isn't that right?" he asked Sinnertwin behind him. The quiet-for-now mech didn't answer him. "See what I mean?"

"Yeah, anyway," Swindle said, lifting the panel into the security office, "let's get out of here". He stuck his head out of the vent to see the control room. Inside the red color room, zombies shambled about, not noticing the peeping tom staring at them. All told, there were around 15 of them in the room, ready to eviscerate any unfortunate soul who tried to come in there. Swindle stuck his gun out and aimed at the nearest one, getting ready to shoot.

Creak!

What was that? Swindle took his attention to look around for the source of that sound.

Creak!

Swindle looked at the vent closely. He saw it dipping, looking ready to break under their weight. "Uh, guys? Brace yourself and get ready to fire!" he told the others. The others had no idea what he was talking but immediately braced themselves as Swindle pulled himself back in.

That's when the vent broke.


	29. Float PT 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shockwave consuls Cyclone and makes a deal.

"There's no way Demolisher would die that easily. I mean, it's Demolisher! He can turn into a fraggin' tank!" Shockwave really regretted having to stay here and try to consul the helicopter.

"Strength and weaponry can't stop anyone from being overwhelmed by sheer numbers in tight spaces," Shockwave told him, trying to rationalize it for him. Although, looking at him and how he acted, logical answers might not be the best choice.

"Yes, but the thing is that he can turn into a tank!" Cyclone repeated at the emotionally challenged scientist.

"But that won't stop him from being overwhelm from superior numbers," Shockwave repeated.

"Yeah, maybe, but… TANK!" Cyclone continued to yell out, arms flailing.

"Yes and I can assure you that he more than likely took many of the zombies with him before he perish," Shockwave tried to assured him. Cyclone lowered his head before responding, in a slightly broken voice:

"He should've killed them all. He shouldn't have died."

"And he will be remember for all he has given for the Decepticons," Shockwave assured him.

"Nah, he won't. Only the big names do, like you, Shockblast," Cyclone said, dejectedly.

"Shockwave," he corrected him.

"Whatever," Cyclone muttered before walking away from him. Shockwave watched him go to a wall and sat down with his back to it. Shockwave watched him for a few seconds before heading to where Gutcruncher was, who was currently crouched down, working on the inside of a console.

"Hello, Shockwave," he greeted, hearing his footsteps. "Look, don't mind Cyclone. He'll get over Demolisher's death," Gutcruncher told him.

"Whether he finds solace matters little to me," Shockwave told him.

"Of course it doesn't, so why are you bothering me," Gutcruncher said, getting straight to the point.

"I am just wondering what you're doing," Shockwave told him.

"I'm trying to figure out why the consoles don't work," Gutcruncher explained to him. "Speaking of, I think I found the reason," he said, pulling out two wires of the same color. Both of them had a end to them that looked neatly cut. "Zombies didn't snap these, a living person did."

"A mystery," Shockwave said.

"You got that right. I'll see if I can connect the wires back together," Gutcruncher said, turning his finger in a blowtorch and getting to work. "Used to be an engineer before I started working in business," he explained. "So, what do you think cause this?" he asked as he got to work.

"I don't know how this happen, but I can gather a guess on who did it," Shockwave said.

"Who?" he asked.

"An Autobot scientist by the name of Flames," Shockwave said.

"Wait, Flames?" he asked, stopping his repairs.

"Yes," he confirmed.

"Hold on, I saw a ship manifest here earlier," he said, heading to the cockpit. "Found it!" he yelled out, bringing a datapad from the cockpit. "According to this datapad, he was a member of the crew on this ship," he said handing it to Shockwave. Shockwave took it with his good hand and looked at it.

"Continue with your repairs," he told him.

"Sure," he said, heading back to the console. Shockwave placed the datapad on top of the console and skim through it. It confirmed that Flames was a member of the ship's crew along with the fact that they were storing dark energon here. Where they got it from, it didn't specified, but Shockwave figured someone must've had a copy of its place of origin.

"Got it," Gutcruncher said, standing back up and looking at the screen. "Looks like security camera console," he observed, trying to switch between the rooms, but not having any effect. "Or not."

"They already have a security office. Why would they need this?" Shockwave observed. Cyclone was also coming over to see what's going on.

"I think it's to observed the people in the security office, to make sure that they don't betray them," Gutcruncher hypothesize. "Apparently, they can be just as paranoid as us."

"Is that Swindle poking his head out from the vent," Cyclone asked. Gutcruncher looked at the vent.

"Oh yeah, that's him alright," Gutcruncher muttered. "Looks like he found the right way."

"He should not be using that," Shockwave told the two.

"Why?" Gutcruncher asked.

"According to the manifest, there's a request to fix the vent there. According to them, it's rusted and would break under too much pressure," Shockwave explained.

"Ah, yes. A shame," Gutcruncher said, sounding just a little smug. Shockwave glared at him.

"You knew, didn't you?" Shockwave asked in what could almost be considered a threatening tone.

"Maybe, but I would hold off on using your gun for the moment," he coaxed.

"But, our guys are with them," Cyclone said, confused.

"Look, we needed to get to the security office. The vents were the only way to get there. Telling Swindle about the rusted vents would have convinced him not to go and we would be stuck, Gutcruncher explained. "If he just so happen to die because of them, that's just a bonus," Gutcruncher added just a little smugly. "Oh, they just crashed to the floor." Shockwave took his glared off him to look at the screen. Indeed, Swindle's group had just crashed and was already firing their weapons into the zombies.

"Why should I not terminate you right now?" Shockwave asked.

"Oh, there are many reasons. Which one do you want to hear?" he asked him with a little smirk and a cock of the head.

"The one that convinces me not to terminate you," Shockwave asked. His expression deaden.

"Well, for starters, you don't like him," Gutcruncher said.

"He's useful," Shockwave said.

"So you don't like him?" he asked again.

"He has information," Shockwave said, trying to dodge the question.

"And I must repeat again, you don't like him, correct?" he asked. Shockwave just continue to glared at him. "I'll take that as a yes, which leads me to my next question, why are you with him?" he asked him.

"He has information that I need," Shockwave told him.

"Well than, why don't you just use a cortical psychic patch?" he asked.

"He keeps one in his room, away from me and probably heavily secure," Shockwave explained to him.

"Well than, how would you feel about having one he doesn't know about?" he asked, giving the smuggest smirk he could muster. Shockwave thought this through, trying to think of all of this. On one hand, he has proven to betray someone at a moment's noticed. On the other hand, a psychic patch he could use and keep hidden from Swindle…

"You argument… is logical," he finally said, putting his gun aside.


	30. Float PT 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group gets rid off the zombies.

'Autobot maintenance suck'. That was the first thought that enter Swindle's mind as the bottom of the vent gave in and send them to the floor. The second thought was, 'Oh frag, I'm right in the middle of a zombie horde," as he crashed to the floor. He didn't get the time to brace himself like the others did and his head slammed itself into the floor, stunning him a little bit and losing his gun.

Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!

'"Ow! The frag is that?" Swindle asked himself, grasping his head. He felt liquid coming down it. Not good.

Crack! Crack! Crack!

'Can't that stop for one sec?' he though to himself. Before he could think anything else through, he felt someone pushing him to the floor. Swindle landed on his back, gazing at his attacker's rusted face. Instinctively, he grasped into his assailant's shoulders and started pushing him back. Unfortunately, the zombie wasn't getting off that easily. It was digging its own clawed hands into Swindle's shoulders, drawing energon and causing a scream of pain from Swindle. Swindle lifted his foot up to the creatures chest and pushed violently with it, momentarily keeping it off of him. Swindle immediately looked around for something to help him and found his gun a little ways away from him.

"Aimed for the chest!" Swindle heard someone yelled, but he couldn't tell who. Swindle immediately started crawling towards his gun. One dragging of the arm put him a quarter of the way there. Another put him halfway there. He took another dragged of the arm and was about to make a fourth one when he felt something pulling his leg. He quickly look to see the same rusted face of the zombie grabbing his leg. Swindle instinctively lashed out with his other leg, catching the zombie in the face and knocking one of its eyes out. That didn't deterred the zombie much, holding stronger than before. Swindle kicked again and, with the body rusted so much, actually kicked the zombie's whole head off. Surprisingly, that still didn't stopped the zombie as he kept pulling Swindle's leg.

"Oh, just die already!" Swindle yelled as he kept crawling to the gun, despite the zombie still clawing into his leg, spilling Swindle's energon. Swindle stretch his arm out and pulled himself to the gun again, struggling against the zombie's, probably literal, iron grip. After that pulled was done, Swindle reached for the gun, grabbing its stock. Swindle pulled that towards himself and grabbed it by the handle. He swiftly position his gun to shoot straight inside the body through the expose neck.

Bang!

The buckshot ripped through the zombie and out the other end and caused it to finally relinquish its grip Swindle. Swindle breathe out a sigh of relief. That was way too much trouble than it should've been. He looked around and found the other three fighting off the zombies. Dead End and Slayride were staying at a distance, shooting whenever they had at a good chance of killing the zombies with their rifles. Sinnertwin, on the other hand, was running around the room and randomly firing his scatter blaster whenever he could, whether at was at a distance or up close and personal, with a smile on his face.

Swindle tried to get up, but he found that a lot harder than he thought. The zombie's claw had dig in deep and seriously hindered his ability to use his leg, probably cutting a few wires. Swindle used a console near him to help get himself back up using his good leg. A bit difficult, but he got himself up after a few seconds and a couple of curse words. Swindle balanced himself on the console to make sure he didn't fall.

A growl rang out from behind him and reminded him that he was in a room full of zombies. He immediately swung his gun out and ended up striking the zombie on the side of the head with the barrel of his gun. This stunned the zombie enough for Swindle to aimed right for the zombies spark and let him pulled the trigger.

Bang!

The shot went straight through the zombie, making a large hole in it and sending it collapsing down. Swindle watched it for a few seconds to make sure it wasn't going to move again. Thankfully, the zombie showed no more signs of undead and was back to being straight up dead. Swindle looked around the room. Dead End and Slayride were each taking out a separate zombie while Sinnertwin was finishing up the last two, blasting one in the chest and just punching through the last one's rusted out chest with his fist. With the last of the zombies dead, everyone relaxed and holster their weapons. Through the four of them, 13 zombies had all been taken out.

It was after that that one of them finally noticed Swindle condition. "Damn," Sinnertwin yelled out, "you got fragged up!" The other two took noticed of his condition with a look of calm acceptance.

"Can you walk?" Dead End asked the con—mech.

"Barely," Swindle replied, getting on the comms. "Hey, Killshot."

"Yeah, Swindle?" Killshot asked through the comms.

"Hit it," he told him.

"You got it. We'll tell you when to turn the barrier off," he told him before getting off. Swindle nodded his head and sat down in an energon-splattered chair.

"One of you, I don't care which, find the button that turns off the barrier and hit it when I tell you to," he ordered, and the three silently agree, walking off. Swindle leaned back in the chair, trying to ignore all the pain signals his shoulders and right leg were telling him. When this was all done, Hook was going to medicate him with the best stuff around and he was going to relax for a while.

"I can't find the button," Slayride yelled out, annoying Swindle.

"Can't find it here either," Sinnertwin chimed out.

"Nor here," Dead End told the group. Great, no one could find the damn button. Without it, their plans were screwed hard. The zombies were still going to be on the ship. It was going to take him longer to get medical aid. Did Primus have a vendetta against him or something? Honestly, he hadn't done anything wrong. All he did was-

The button was right in front of him.

Swindle went numb at his own stupidity and at the aching of his limbs. "Found it," Swindle muttered.

"Yo, Swin!" Killshot's voice crackled from the comms. "Hit it!" Swindle swung his aching arm and slammed his hand on the button.

XXX

Killshot and his group watched from the windows as the barrier turned off and sucked the zombies out. Some tried desperately to hang on, but were unable to hang on and were ejected out. "Okay, turn it off," Killshot told Swindle. Soon, the barrier came back to life, and Killshot gazed out the barrier at the zombies floating through space, unable to come back in.


	31. Conversations With Dirt PT 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Scavenger defies Hook

" _Zombies ejected,_ " Swindle heard Killshot told him over the comms.

"Great," Swindle said, sounding tired and worn out.

" _You alright, Swin?_ " Killshot asked.

"No," Swindle told him honestly. "Tell Hook and Scavenger to meet me at the med-lab. I'm injure and required medical attention," he ordered him.

" _Alright, will do,_ " Killshot said, getting off the line.

"Okay, Dead End?" he asked his second-in-command.

"Yes?" he asked.

"Help me to the ship. I think my legs have stop moving."

XXX

"So, Swindle got injured?" Hook asked.

"Yeah," Killshot told him.

"Did he tell you how he was injured or any wounds he have?" Hook asked him.

"Nah. Just told me tell you two to go meet him at the med-lab," he replied back.

"Alright, let's get going Scavenger," Hook told Scavenger, who was sitting in one of the chair, legs on the table, drinking a cube of energon that was likely Gutcruncher's. Hook turned around, walking away, expecting him to follow.

"How about no," Scavenger said, taking a sip from the cube. Hook stop mid-step and turned around to Scavenger.

"What was that?" he asked him in a tone that was mixed with anger and surprise.

"I said 'no.'" Scavenger replied, taking another drink from the cube, downing about half of what was left.

"And why is that?" he questioned him.

"Well, it seems you are more appreciate of Misfire than me," Scavenger whined, causing a groaned from Hook.

"It was one compliment-"

"Which is one more than you've given me!" Scavenger yelled, smashing his cube on the table and sending some of the energon on his arm.

"Okay, if that's what you want, fine. Scavenger, you are a wonderful assistant," he said, sounding incredibly insincere.

"No," Scavenger said, taking another drink from his cube.

"Oh, you insolent, little-"

"Hey guys," Misfire yelled out, barging into the room with Skywarp behind him. "Do you know Gutcruncher has a another inside this ship? It's a shipception!" Misfire yelled out. Hook looked at him before walking to the door.

"Misfire, follow me," Hook told him.

"Uh, why?" he asked.

"I need a assistant, now follow me," Hook growled out in the most threatening tone he could.

"Uh, alright man. Just don't go all Megatron on me," Misfire said, following him out of the room. Skywarp watched as the two retreated from the door and turned to the other two still here.

"Uh, what did I miss?" Skywarp asked them.

"I honestly don't know," Killshot told him. "You should be asking this guy," he pointed to Scavenger, who was getting a cube of high-grade this time. "Speaking of, can you get one for me?" he asked him. Scavenger glared at him before grabbing another cube and bringing it to Killshot. "Thank you," Killshot thanked him, grabbing the cube and sitting down in the sit next to Scavenger's.

"You're welcome," he said, earnestly. Scavenger took his seat and the two drank their high-grades. Scavenger gave a grunt as he drank his and fought hard to keep it down before swallowing. "Wow, that stuff is strong," he said, laying it down on the table. Killshot set his on the table, not the least bit fazed by it.

"Is this you're first time?" he asked him. A nod. "You get used to it. Just suck it up," he told him. He turned to Skywarp, who was still standing there. "Well, what you're waiting for? Gutcruncher isn't here. Go get yourself some free high-grade," he told him. Skywarp thought about it before shrugging his shoulders - and by extension, his wings – and stole a cube of high-grade and taking a seat across from the two.

"Eh, could be worst people I'm drinking with," Skywarp replied. "A aft like you and a guy who I've hardly spoke five words with are better than Autobots and some other people I know," he explained, before taking a drink and setting the cube back down. "So, Scavenger is it?" he asked. He gave a nod and took another gulped of the cube. "What's your problem," he asked, wondering exactly why he was playing psychiatrist.

"Hook," Scavenger said simply.

"And…" he asked, wanting clarification.

"He treats me like scrap. Actually, that's inaccurate. He treats me like dirt," Scavenger clarified. "Never gave me a single 'Thank you, Scavenger.' Never a "Good job, Scavenger.' Not even a 'Scavenger, you're the bestest, most awesomest assistant, ever.' No, its just tolerance at best and constant insults at worst. Just walks all over me. There's just no pleasing him for me," Scavenger explained in the most hurt toned possible. "Misfire, on the underhand? " he asked, getting angrier. "One compliment, and Hook is all 'Oh, Misfire, you're the most awesome Con ever!"

"That's a exaggeration," Killshot interrupted.

"Whatever. He still complimented him, which is more than I ever got," Scavenger said, downing the rest of his cube. "Damn, that's strong."

"Okay, look," Skywarp said, trying to figure out how to say this. "Hook probably does think you're good," Skywarp began.

"Oh, really?" Scavenger asked in disbelief.

"Yes really, and here's why. Tell me, how long have you been Hook's assistant?" he asked.

"I don't know, really. We've work together as a group with the other Constructicons since before the war, but I think I started working as his assistant after Hook and me took medical training. So about a vorn after the war started," he told him.

"And why hasn't he replace you with another assistant?" he asked him.

"Uh, because of um…." Scavenger stumbled trying to figure out why.

"It's because you're the best assistant he has. He trust you to get the job done," Skywarp told him.

"Yeah, the guy ego has just inflated so much that he would never tell you," Killshot chimed in.

"So you see? He does think you're good," Skywarp comforted him.

"Now, whether he actually cares about you or not is another thing entirely," Killshot butted in again. Scavenger bowed his head down, thinking about what they said. Did Hook really did think he was good or did he think as nothing more than a constant frag-up? The other two observed him, wondering how he was going to respond.

"I… I… I think I need to go for a walk around the station," he said, getting up. "I need to clear my head a little bit," he specified and began walking towards the door out of there

"Wait!" Killshot shouted out him and grabbed another high grade. He went over and stuck his hand out for Scavenger to grab it. "Here. It should help you think this through. At the very least, it'll calm you down a little bit," he told him. Scavenger looked at the cube before grabbing it.

"Thanks," he replied.

"You're welcome," Killshot told him. "Don't let Hook get to you, alright," he told him. Scavenger's grip tighten, but he gave a nod.

"You got it," he replied, walking out of the door, not noticing a crack in the cube and the high-grade dripping from it. Killshot watched him go before heading back to the table with Skywarp and taking another drink from his cube.

"Well, I never thought I see you act like that," Skywarp told him. Killshot almost choked on his cube, but held it back and swallowed it.

"Same thing for you," he replied baack.

"Hmph, good point," he muttered, drinking his cube.

"I mean, why did you went all helpful with him?" he asked.

"I could ask the same of you," he dodged the question.

"I asked first," he countered. "So tell me, why did you act like that?" Skywarp gave him a almost sober look, before telling him:

"TC did the same with me. Whenever I was upset with something, he would always be there to calm me down and comfort me. Good old Blue always had my back," he told him, looking at his high-grade thoughtfully. "What about you?" he asked.

"I've… had experience before and let's just put it as that. I don't want to go into specifics," he told him.

"Yeah, I understand. Say, you think I should prank Hook?" he asked him.

"Publically humiliating him and letting me laugh at him? That would be great," Killshot said, a little chuckle escaping him. "Cheers," he said, holding his cube up.

"Cheers," Skywarp agreed, knocking his cube against his and the two drank. The two laid back in their seats, thinking about things. Killshot about how good things were right now and Skywarp about a loose end.

"I haven't forgotten about pranking you."

"Dammit."


	32. Conversations with Dirt PT 2

"Hmm, looks like Swindle is still alive," Gutcruncher murmured to himself, loud enough for the other two occupants to hear him.

"So everyone's okay?" Cyclone asked.

"Yes. All of the came out unharmed except Swindle."

"Disappointing, but expected," Shockwave said.

"Yeah, but at least Swindle was injured, so something good did come out of it. Besides, it's probably a good thing. I don't have a cortical patch yet," Gutcruncher told him.

"You don't?" Shockwave asked.

"Yeah, I need something before I can make one. I got files on it, so I know what it takes. All I need is some element 113 and I can make one," Gutcruncher told him.

"That is in short supply," Shockwave remarked.

"Yeah, but I got an idea where I can find some stuff at. Let me go find some, make a patch, and give it to you," Gutcruncher told him.

"And what do you required in return?" Shockwave asked.

"One thing:" Gutcruncher said, a slightly malicious tone enter his voice, "after you use the patch, kill Swindle for me."

* * *

Swindle limped through the hallways of the ship with Dead End supporting him. The lights were still doing their horror movie flashing of on and off and the walls were still coated with energon, but the two were surprisingly calm, knowing that all the zombies were off the ship. Of course, Swindle was still bleeding a bit, but he could handle that. Although the wounds had a similarity that haunted him a little bit.

_"Brawl, you're injure!"_

_"Go dammit! I'll be find."_

"Swindle, are you alright?" Dead End questioned him, sounding just the slightest bit worried.

_"You'll die!"_

_"You think I don't know that?"_

"Swindle?" he asked again, giving him a slight shake.

_"There has to be another way!"_

_"There is no other way, now go! Run!"_

"Swindle?" he asked again, shaking him harder now.

_"But, the bomb-"_

_"I'll trigger it, just get your aft out of here, now!"_

"Swindle!" Dead End yelled out. Swindle snapped out of his reverie and fixed Dead End a hard glared.

"I'm fine. Quit yelling," Swindle ordered him. "Primus, I didn't think you could get emotional."

"Apologizes, I didn't know caring about your allies was against the rule. I'll remember that the next time you're bleeding out," Dead End quipped.

"Oh, screw you," Swindle muttered.

"But, in all seriousness, are you alright? You seem deep in thought over something," Dead End noticed.

"Yeah, I'm just remembering things… about Brawl," he specified.

"Ah, yes. You're dead gestaltmate," Dead End said, getting it.

"Yeah, I just keep, you know, flashing back to moments before his death," Swindle said, an inkling of sadness creeping into his voice.

"I know the feeling," Dead End agreed, his tone getting darker.

"Oh yeah, you had one of yours killed too, right? If I'm correct, it was your commander, Motormaster," Swindle said, the sad tone staying in his voice.

"Correct," Dead End confirmed.

"How did he die?" Swindle questioned him. "I got reports of it, but I can't quite remember it right now, due to my aching wounds," Swindle told him drily.

"Well, if I remember corrected, we were in a middle of a battle, near my hometown of Ibex," Dead End began, keeping his voice monotonous. "The death toll was rising at a steadily pace, but we weren't worried, except for Breakdown. He was so much more of a coward back then," Dead End said, getting a bit off-the-rails. "Anyway, we were taking a flying transport over there, however, a Autobot got lucky with a rocket and downed us. The Autobots swarmed us and we ended up retreating, unknowingly splitting up. Each of us took a different way out. About halfway through our escape, we all felt something: a bond snapping. None of us knew until we all regroup. And realize Motormaster was missing. We found his body sometime after the battle, bullet holes riddling his body," Dead End summarized.

"Wow, that sucks," Swindle earnestly said.

"Not really," he disagreed. "We all hated Motormaster, even though he was our commander. He was mourned briefly, but none of us really cared. Drag Strip made a funeral shower just a day after his death and we all celebrated. "

"Even you," Swindle asked, surprised.

"Celebrate would be exaggerating how I felt, but apparently I was smiling. Strange how I don't remember that, but everybody else vividly do," Dead End mused.

"Smiling isn't exactly a major concern with you," Swindle half-jokingly, half-seriously said.

"Could be true," Dead End agreed, "but it doesn't really matter now. The Stunticons spilt up and I eventually ended up working with your commander," Dead End finished.

"And now you're working with me," Swindle correctly finished for him.

"Yes, I am," Dead End agreed. "Your commander is a good boss. Much better than Motormaster," Dead End told him.

"Doesn't surprise me, considering some of the things I've heard Motormaster did," Swindle agreed. "Sounded like one sick bastard."

"Yes, although there was one down-side to his death that you're probably experiencing with Brawl's death," Dead End said, his tone getting darker and morose.

"And what would that be?" Swindle asked him in a bewilder tone.

"You never feel whole again."

* * *

Hook and Misfire had both arrived at the med-bay before Swindle and Dead End. Hook went ahead and started prepping the place for Swindle's arrival, leaving Misfire by himself, confused. Hook coated his tools with disinfectant and thoroughly washed them; didn't want his patient to get infected with technopathogens. "Alright, Scavenger, "he said to the room as he was cleaning his tools, "go get a syringe with a sedative, just in cause we have to knock him into stasis." Misfire looked around the room, looking to see if he followed them. With the brief look confirmed Misfire's theory, he told Hook:

"Uh, doc? It's just us. Remember?" he told him. Hook looked up from his table, confusion on his face before he remembered.

"Oh, right. I forgot about that. Go get the syringe over there," he nudged his head to the right side of the room to a box, "and be ready with it, just in case," he told him, now done with his tools. Misfire shook his head and went to the other side of the room to grab the syringe. With that difficult goal accomplish, Misfire walked over to where Hook was at, giving his tools another inspection to make sure they were ready and cleaned.

"Hey Hook, you're alright?" he asked him.

"Of course I am, Scavenger," he told him.

"Uh, I'm Misfire," he repeated.

"Oh, my bad," Hook said, messing with his scalpel.

"Are you sure? Because last I check, you just called out Scavenger name twice, without him being here," Misfire said, poking holes in his statement.

"It's nothing. I'm just not used to Scavenger not being is all," Hook assured him, putting the scalpel back down and looming at his tools again.

"Exactly how long have you and Scavenger been working together?" Misfire asked him.

"I don't know exactly. We started working together for the first time with everyone else before the war," Hook told him.

"You've worked with him so long, you couldn't imagine anybody else working here in his place, can you?" he asked him.

"Yeah, maybe- wait! Are you psycho-analyzing me? That's my job!" he asked in comtempt at the purple seeker.

"No, I'm not," Misfire assured him. Hook simply glared at him a little more. "Okay, maybe a little, but still, you honestly can't imagine anybody working here except him, correct?" he asked him. Hook bowed his head down, thinking over what he and Scavenger have been working together for the longest of time. He had gotten used to just telling Scavenger what to do. It became instinct. Maybe he relied too much on him…

"You know, I have been working with Scavenger for a long time. Maybe I should get someone else," he thought allowed. That was not the answer Misfire wanted to hear.

"But you two have been working together forever! Why would you switch someone out who has been proven to be reliable?" he asked him.

"I don't know," Hook admitted. "Maybe it's time for change. Maybe I should just close all my ties from the Constructicons. Be my own 'Con. Work with somebody who isn't tie down to another group," Hook said grandly.

"But Scavenger is tie down to you," Misfire told him.

"No he's not. He's just working with me because he's a Constructicon," Hook said.

"Dude, he totally fanboys over you. What give you that impression?" Misfire asked him.

"And what makes you think he 'fanboys' over me," he asked him instead.

"His journal that he keeps with him," Misfire answered. Hook raised a eyebrow at that.

"You invaded his privacy and read his journal," Hook asked him.

"What? No secrets last here?" Misfire told him.

"True…" Hook agreed, his faceplate deep in thought. "Are you sure about that he likes me?" he asked him.

"Right now, I don't know, but he did write some long-rambling about how you were the best doctor in the universe and that you were supposedly best friends," Misfire blabber out.

"Wait, wait, wait… He considers me the best doctor around?" Hook asked, pride seeping into his tone.

"Yeah," Misfire told him. Hook put a hand to his chin, thinking that through.

"Well, it's nice know someone appreciates someone with true talent. Maybe I was a little too tough on him," he said a smile coming on his face.

"Ow, dammit! Can't you guide my legs a little more accurate than that?" Swindle yelled at Dead End as they enter the room.

"Hello, Swindle. Come take a seat on my table," he gesture to Swindle with a wave of his hand. Dead End help guided Swindle to the table.

"Has he been complaining the whole walk?" Misfire asked.

"Amongst other things," Dead End told him.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Swindle murmured. He looked over at Hook. "And what are you smiling at," Swindle asked him.

"Nothing," Hook assured him. "Just sit back, relax, and let me fix those wounds of yours."


	33. Conversations with Dirt PT 3

Scavenger walked through the halls of the station absent-mindedly; drinking his high-grade without realizing it was leaking and thinking about him and Hook. Did he actually think he was a good assistant? If so, why hasn't he respected him once in their whole entire time working together? Hook did have a bit of an ego, but it wasn't that big, was it? Or was that just Scavenger's petty optimism again? Ugh, why did his life have to be so difficult? Why did-

"Help!" a distant voice yelled out, lighting up Scavenger's nerves. Why would someone need help? They took care of all the zombies, right? Scavenger walked over to the middle of the hall, looking at the three different directions. Where should he go?

"Help!" the voice yelled from the right, sounding feminine. Scavenger paced himself quickly down the hall, being careful. This could be an ambush and then he would be screwed. He really wanted to live a lot longer. He didn't hear anything else so far. No sound of someone fighting for their life or something like that. It was kinda eerie. The still flickering lights (Why did Autobot's maintenance suck so hard?) were not helping.

Scavenger was at another intersection. He saw ends of hallways ahead of him and to his left, but a giant door blocking his right a little bit down the line with a sign on the wall beside of it. Scavenger looked around, looking for a direction to go. "Help!" the voice yelled again, coming from the door and sounding even more desperate. Scavenger headed to the imposing door and looked for a way to open it. He found it on the wall near the sign. Scavenger promptly hit the button, ignoring the sign. The door opened with a slight hiss and showed what lied behind it.

The hallway inside was full on white this time, although there were still splatter marks that the completely working lights illuminated well. The hallway headed straight ahead, leading to another door. Scavenger looked a little at the hallway, trying to get the courage to enter it. Going off alone was not what you do in horror films. The go is to stick together.

"Help!" Fraggit.

Scavenger downed the rest of the high-grade, which was a paltry amount due to the crack, and then tossed it aside. He took a sharp intake of air and headed inside. He took little baby steps, edging his way to the door. He really wanted to turn tail and run, but forged on. Maybe if Hook can see he can get things done by himself, he can respect him? Or maybe he can rub it in. That would work too. Scavenger moved a little faster, lured in by the excitement of pleasing or mocking Hook. Which one, he didn't know at the moment. He just wanted to prove he could be useful.

Chun!

Scavenger jumped and turned around. The door had closed automatically, scaring the living daylights out of him. Scavenger glanced at the closed door before continuing on to the other door.

He really should've paid attention to the sign.

XXX

"So, what are you going to do once we find the guy who killed your trinemate?" Killshot asked the seeker across from him, getting another cube of high-grade.

"Besides killing him? Probably going to torture him for a few joors," Skywarp casually replied.

"Figured as much," Killshot said, taking a seat, cube in hand.

"Anything else you want to ask me?" Skywarp inquired.

"Eh, not real- oh, wait! I got one," Killshot changed his mind, leaning in. "Is Starscream as much of a back-stopping pit-spawn I've heard he is?" he asked in an excited tone. Skywarp gave him a strange look, raising a confused eyebrow at that.

"Eh, a little bit, but not really" he told him, taking a drink from his high-grade after that, before continue. "He has tried to take over the Decepticons from Megatron a few times and has backstab a few people, but nowhere near the frequency people thinks he does. He has a job to do, you know?" Skywarp explained.

"SIC of the 'Cons. I know, but it can't be too hard, can it?" he asked for conformation.

"Okay, first off, he's the one in change of logistics of our forces. He figures out how to best move our resources around, following advice from several of our soldiers, formally including TC…," he trailed off. He gave a slight pause before going back to his explanation. "He also gives tactical advice to Megatron about things, like assassination, battles, stuff like that. Occasionally, he might use that in an attempt to Megatron, but not as much as you might think. To go along with that, he's in charge of me," Skywarp explained.

"You?" he asked, taking an interest in the conversation. A look into how things work for the top dogs wasn't given out often.

"Yeah. I do a lot of pranks, partly to ease tension and partly for my own amusement," he explained give a sly smile. "He once asked Megatron if he could have a whole branch to deal with me. Take a guess how that worked out."

"Badly." A sip.

"Yeah. Aside from that, he is in charge of the military and scientific branches and has to make sure both sides are good. That's where the logistics come in," he explained. "Both sides can be pretty picky and Megatron gives Screamer some… incentives to make sure in does good," he explained, living what the incentives were up in the air. "And that's it, I think. I'm probably leaving a lot out, but whatever," Skywarp dismissed, before fixing Killshot with a hard gaze. "So, why do you work with Swindle?" he asked.

"What do you expect? Money, of course," he replied quickly.

"Okay, by why Swindle specifically?" he specified.

"Eh," he replied with a shrug of his shoulders, "I've known him since before the war. When Cybertron died, I realize that a lot of the remaining conflicts were going to be ship-based, so I went to look for a job. I heard that Swindle needed a bodyguard, so I ask. In account of our previous relation and the problem I was going to have in the upcoming battles, he allowed me to work for him," he explained.

"Alright, so how did you know Swindle?" he asked.

"One of his creators, a senator, was a popular-"

"His creators were senators!" Skywarp interrupted. Anyone with relation to the senators was a rarity amongst the 'Cons. How the frag did they not know about Swindle being one?

"One of them. I don't know about the other one. Never met them," he explained. "What I do know about the one I met was that he was high-paying. Eventually, Swindle heard about me and asked if I could get rid of some people, so I obliged him," Killshot explained.

"How did Swindle feel about his creator?" Skywarp asked.

"He hated him, although I don't why. He said something about him doing some really awful scrap, was involved in something over at an institution. I don't know. I didn't cared," he answered.

"An institution?" he asked.

"Yeah, I think- no, wait. It wasn't an institution. It was The Institution. I think that's what he said. I've never heard of a place called that," he explained.

The Institution," Skywarp muttered, thinking. "I think I've heard a couple people talk about it, but mostly in hushed tones. I have no idea what it's used for," Skywarp added his knowledge.

"Well, whatever it was, Swindle was pretty ticked off about it. Really hated his creator for it," Killshot said. "Anyway," he continued, "I took jobs from Swindle. Most of it was assassinations, although he asked me a few times if I could steal some stuff. I told him that it wasn't my area of expertise and recommend this femme I knew, a fellow Triple-M. When the war hit, I worked for 'Cons as a sniper and didn't meet Swindle much, although I was surprise when he went to work as a gestalt. He always seemed too selfish to worked with other people," Killshot said, thinking that over. "Anyway, I fight in war, planet goes kaput, and I go work for Swindle. That's my story," Killshot finished.

"Does Swindle hate anybody else?" Skywarp asked.

"Besides the Senator and Starscream, I don't know of any other. The only one he might not like is the cyclops that's riding with us," Killshot informed him.

"Shockwave? Why?" Skywarp asked.

"I don't know. I just think it's the in thing to do," Killshot said.

"Well, that's a good point. A lot of people are creep out by that guy," Skywarp agreed.

"And he's riding with us," Killshot muttered.

" _Hey, Killshot,_ " Swindle spoke over the line.

"What's up?" Killshot asked.

" _Is Scavenger with you? Hook tried calling him, but he's not answering,_ " Swindle questioned.

"No, He left a little while ago," he answered.

" _Well, can you go- Ow! Dammit! Careful there!_ " Swindle yelled out to someone else.

"In surgery?" Killshot guessed.

" _Yeah, anyway, go find Scavenger and bring him back to the ship, alright?_ " Swindle ordered him.

"Fine," Killshot said, getting off the line and out of this chair.

"What's going on?" Skywarp asked.

"Scavenger is not answering to Hook. You want to go find him with me?" he asked him.

"Eh, why not. I've got nothing better to do," Skywarp agreed.

"I saw him crack his cube of high-grade and it started dripping. Maybe we could follow that?"

"That'll work. Let's go."

XXX

A few cycles later.

"Alright, I don't think this working," Skywarp muttered, walking on the left. "We've followed this for a while no and still no trace of him," Skywarp said as they turned right in to another hallway. "This station is too damn big," he complained.

"You're telling me. I don't think we got long though. Just a little farther, I'm pretty sure," Killshot said. The two walked in silence looking at the high-grade on the floor. High-grade was a slightly lighter shade of blue than regular energon and made it easy to tell it apart from all the energon in the halls. The two paced themselves around the hall, following the trail around the right side and into a large door. "Damn, that's big," Killshot said, looking at the door and around it. "Hey," he said, "I found the cube."

"Well, at least we know where he went," Skywarp muttered.

"Yep," he said, glancing at Skywarp. I guess-" he stopped speaking, looking at Skywarp oddly. "Oh, scrap," he muttered.

"What, what's wrong with me?" Skywarp asked.

"Behind you," he said, simply. Skywarp turned around and looked at a sign before immediately gave a cursed of his own. "Frag."

_**Warning: Soundproof area up ahead.** _

_**Comms will be unuseable in the area.** _


	34. Little Things PT 1

You know that feeling you get whenever you just know that something bad is about to happen? The one feeling in which you know someone is doing something stupid and about to open a whole can of chaos?

Dead End was feeling that right now.

He couldn't help it, being the cynical bastard that he is, and the war has done nothing but enhance it. He was willing to bet that it involve Scavenger as well. By yourself in a mostly abandoned station that was just cleaned out of zombies is just asking for trouble. Slag, knowing his luck, the zombies were still on the station and just hiding somewhere, ready to kill him.

"Hey, Deady. You alright?" Misfire asked, leaning on the table Hook was committing surgery on Swindle's legs, his shoulder fixed. "You look extra gloomy right now."

"I've got a bad feeling," Gloomy End answered, despair trickling from his voice.

"You're full of bad feelings. Why are you complaining now?" Misfire fired back.

"I mean that something bad is going to happen soon, or has already happen and confirmed our doom," Doom End specified.

"Our doom? What are you, a soothsayer?" Misfire questioned.

"I don't know. I just have a knack at knowing when something terrible is going to happen," Sooth Say End explained.

"Hmph, I think you're just crazy," the seeker told him.

"I probably am, just to add to my pessimistic psychosis," Crazy End agreed.

"Will you two shut up," Hook interrupted the two, not looking away from Swindle's legs. "Your bickering is annoying." Hook stayed silent after that and continued patching up Swindle's legs. Misfire gave a Hook with a feign look of hurt before heading towards Dead End to continue their conversation.

"So," he whispered, "how certain are you that's something bad is going to happen?"

"Considering I have not been wrong yet, I'm certain," Bad End replied.

"Of course you are," Misfire murmured. "Can't you just be a little optimistic?" he asked him, wringing his hands in frustration, wanting to leave this creepy station.

"No," Optimistic End replied bluntly.

"What is it, Killshot?" Swindle suddenly said, attracting the other two's attention.

"Just watch, you fragging pessimist," Misfire murmured with confidence. "Swindle is going to say that Killy found Scav and is on his way up here so we could leave."

"I doubt it," Pessimistic End said.

"Uh-huh … Really... I hate you sometimes," Swindle murmured, getting off the line. "Dead End. Misfire. We got a problem," Swindle told them.

"Told you," Correct End said in a voice that almost gloated.

"Killshot and Skywarp found a soundproof area. If there are zombies inside, that means they didn't hear the signal and are in there. Normally, that wouldn't be a problem, but Scavenger went there and is probably in trouble.," he informed them.

"Primus dammit!" Misfire yelled out in frustration. "Can't anything involving us go smoothly?"

"Probably not," Silky Smooth End replied.

"Here, take this," Swindle said, slipping something out of a subspace and tossing it to them, which Dead End caught. "Map of the ship. Go to their position," he ordered them.

"Hold up," Hook said, welding the last wound on Swindle's legs. "I done here and I'm coming with you," Hook said, anger emanating from his voice. "I'm not letting my partner die."

"Uh, what about me?" Swindle asked.

"Go to your room, rest, and let us take care of the problem," Hook told him, briskly walking out the door with the other two following him.

XXX

Killshot walked backed to the door. Close contact with it made him unable to use his comms., meaning the range of the jamming signal went beyond the area. On a whim, Killshot had used the map to check something and had found the area directly where he was earlier when he failed to contact Swindle, meaning that this door is a huge –

Where's Skywarp?

Killshot looked around the area. Not a single trace of Skywarp was around here. That meant that Skywarp could've gone in there like a idiot without backup and get himself killed.

"What up!" Killshot jumped and looked behind him to see Skywarp with a helicopter behind him. Cyclone. He looked a bit dizzy after the teleportation, but he was fine.

"Fraggin' Primus! Don't do that to me!" Killshot shouted out loud. He gave a glared to the newcomer. "And how the frag did he get here?" Killshot asked

"I teleported him here," Skywarp answered cheerily, crossing his arms. "Got a problem with that?"

"No, just… don't do that teleporting without telling me, alright?" he asked.

"Okay," Skywarp answered before disappearing in a flash of blue light, surprising Killshot again.

"Scrap!" he yelled out, his hand to his chassis. He looked at the copter. "So, I'm guessing you're here to help us kill the zombies," he asked, his voice just a little shaky.

"Yeah," he muttered, looking somewhere else. Killshot gave him a look. He couldn't help but noticed that Cyclone looked restrained and look liked he really wanted to kill something. He decided to try and calm him down. A mentally unwell teammate was a liability.

"Hey, I'm sorry about Demolisher," Killshot tried to comfort him, attempting to emote caring.

"Yeah, whatever. Just be quiet," Cyclone muttered, blowing him off. Obviously, he wasn't taking his death well.

"Okay, look, you're not acting well. The death of someone you care about is hard to-"

"Who the frag are you?" Cyclone interrupted.

"Killshot. Remember me? We worked on Dabola together," Killshot explained.

"Nah, I don't remember," Cyclone said, really not caring about him while Killshot was a little indignant. Cyclone really should've remembered him. He was awesome at Dabola.

"Hey, slaghead, listen to me," he ordered him. "We got probably one more fight together and I don't want to get maul to death by zombies. That's not the way I want to go out."

"It definitely how Demolisher didn't want to go out either, but he didn't get a choice!" Cyclone confronted him.

"Point taken," Killshot agreed.

"How the frag do you want to go out?" he asked him, getting into his face.

"I don't know, probably going out taking a giant abomination with me. That's how a lot of the legends go out." A demeaning grunt from Cyclone. "I know, that's cliché, but it's a nice way to go out. It's definitely worth remembering about," Killshot explained.

"Yeah, I guess so," Cyclone muttered. Killshot glared at him, wondering something.

"How did Demolisher want to die?" Killshot asked, continuing the morbid conversation. Cyclone glared at him before answering the question.

"He wanted to die protecting me," Cyclone answered, "and I wanted to…" he trailed off, although Killshot could take a guess.

"You wanted to die the same way," he finished.

"Yeah, I did," Cyclone muttered. "So, you want to know how I want to die now?" Cyclone asked him.

"Yeah, I guess," he said.

"So do I," Cyclone muttered darkly. The two stared at each for a little while, the conversation lingering between them.

"Oh, I'm sensing some serious UST from you two," a voice said from behind them. The two looked over at Misfire and the two 'Cons to his left.

"I doubt that," Killshot said in response.

"Of course," Misfire muttered. Before they could continue, a blue light came before the two groups. Skywarp appear before them with Sinnertwin in tow.

"Be right back," Skywarp said and disappear again. Sinnertwin looked at the two groups before saying:

"Am I the only one who think there is some serious UST between the two of them," Sinnertwin said about the duo. The two took steps away from each other.

"Same here dude," Misfire said happily, setting himself up for a high-five. Sinnertwin looked at him oddly.

"Who are you?" he asked. Misfire expression and hand lowered at that.

"I'm Misfire. Part of Swindle's crew. Famous actor," he told him.

"I hate movies," he told him.

"Oh," Misfire said. The two settle into a awkward silence which was relieve by Skywarp warping in with Slayride.

"What up? I didn't miss anything, did I?" Skywarp asked the group.

"No, you didn't, now let's go kill anymore zombies we find," Killshot ordered them.

XXX

Scavenger walked through the hallways, thinking that this was a bad idea. It was pretty justified too, considering the fact that this place was spotless. Not a single drop of energon was anywhere. It's like no one had die here. In fact, it looked like someone actually clean the place up even though a zombie apocalypse was happening on the ship. It was quite disturbing. Nothing looking wrong when everywhere else on the station was a bloodbath were all red flags that he should just turn tail and run the frag out of there like a scared protoform. But then again, there was a person in trouble…

Another thing was disturbing was the fact that all the doors were completely locked. Scavenger couldn't get the doors open, no matter what he did, from a pathetic attempt at hacking to a terrible attempt at cutting it open with his E-tool. Nothing worked. Someone was reinforcing the doors and making it impossible for him to open it, giving out a metaphorical 'Frag you' to him. It was managing to piss him off and egging him on to see what was causing this and find the person in trouble..

And the answer to it was coming in to sight. Scavenger crossed a corridor to see a open door at the end of the hallway. Scavenger walked over to the anomaly, being careful. From what he could see, it was just a plain, clean, white room. By itself, not too bad. In comparison to the whole station, who the frag decided to clean the place? Fragging creepy.

Scavenger reached the door and draw his gun out, attempting to hold it steady it his hands. He wasn't too good at it, considering he was still feeling the effects of the high-grade. His hands were shaking a bit as he hold his gun and static was skating around the edge of his vision. He was still operational; he just wasn't at his best, which, admittedly, isn't very good at all. It was still better than his current state.

Scavenger was at the door now and was taking small, slightly stumbling steps into the room. The room looked normal, which made him want to run. There were tables around and a computer in a corner, but there wasn't anyone here. Scavenger took another look at the hallways before heading to the computer in the back of the room. He sat in the chair and starting looking through the files of the guy, who was a mnemosurgeon.

At first, it was just the normal stuff. Lab notes, experiments, gossip about the guy next door looking up snuff films, the usual, than it started getting creepy. The guy talked about the station getting into more and more inhumane experiment, the people getting more paranoid, and this guy getting the hots for the guy next door. Freak. It explained how they started experimenting on their own people, looking for ways to fight back the Decepticons. Honestly, Scavenger maybe expected this kind of stuff from his side, but not the Autobots. They're the one spouting how 'Freedom was the Right of All Sentient Beings.' Apparently, that also included the freedom to openly experiment on each other in sick ways. Eventually, it was just down to this guy and the chief science officer of the ship, Flame. He kept going until he found a file that disturbed him.

_**Note for Scavenger:** _

That was… creepy to an absurd degree. How the frag did he knew he was and know he was on this ship? Curiosity got the better of him and he opened it up.

_**Dear Scavenger,** _

_**Honestly Scavenger, you're an idiot.**_ Well, that's blunt. **_Did you not looked in the sign before you walk in here._** Sign? _**This whole area is soundproof. How could you fall for the sound of fighting? You shouldn't even hear it. HA! You're an idiot. I just want you to know that. Some advice, don't drink and go out by yourself. You'll end up in slag creek without a paddle. Bye-Bye now!**_

_**Love,** _

_**Your special friend.** _

Well, that was insulting and proof that Scavenger's mind was further screwing with him. He really had to take of his special friend that was actively trying to fragged with him. First he cause him to attack Swindle and now this. There wasn't even someone he- something was typing itself out on the screen.

_**P.S.: There's a guy behind you, ready to kill you. Duck, you moron!** _

Scavenger probably shouldn't have move, but his drinking made him a bit subjective to stupid ideas. He immediately ducked away from the computer, losing his gun in the progress, and heard the sound of something jamming itself into the computer, sending sparks everywhere. Scavenger was amazed that the special friend was actually right. "Well now, impressive that you dodged that," a slightly shrill, but sophisticated voice said. Scavenger looked up to see an rather tall red-orange-and-yellow 'Bot standing over him with a really unsettling smile on his face. "Ah, my apologizes. Let me introduce myself. My name is Flame and you are on my station." With that, he brought his electrostaff up and then brought it down.

Scavenger rolled quickly away from staff and quickly got back up, getting over his buzz. Flame reacted quickly and swung his staff horizontally at him. Scavenger quickly jumped backwards, keeping away from him. The psychopath was blocking his escape path and he had to get past him. Scavenger took some steps backwards, trying to distance himself from the scientist. "Honestly, just calm down and accept your death. You'll get to join everyone else," Flame smoothly said, with just a dash of creepy. It was unsettling. "They are such pretty, little things, you agree. You should join them."

"Uh, sorry. I like to join you, but I really, really don't want to die," Scavenger said, continuing to back up until he bumped into a table. The medic smiled at him, trying to comfort him.

"Look, I'll make it painless if you want to. All you have to do is except it," Flame attempted to comfort him and scarred the living frag out of him.

"Yeah, um, objection."

"Based on what?"

"On the fact that you're clearly insane and we already ejected all your zombies into space!" Scavenger told him, grabbing the table and spinning it around towards Flame.

"WHAT!" Flame yelled, breaking his calm. Before he could do anything else, the table connected sending him stumbling back. Scavenger took advantage of this and quickly dashed past Flame, dodging an attack by him. Scavenger ran out of the room and into the hallway, leaving Flame behind him. Flame walked out into the hallway, looking for where Scavenger went. Realizing that he couldn't find him, Flame brought out a device and clicked on it. "Alright, you sneaky little thing, let's see you live through this." All the doors opened and the zombies stumbled out, looking for more to killed. Flame walked past them and the zombies ignored him. He had to go get someone else. They might have to leave the ship soon.


	35. Little Things PT 2

"What the frag!?" Sinnertwin yelled as all the doors slid open and the zombies poured out. Sinnertwin reacted quickly, shooting the zombie coming from the door next to him point-blank. A crack of a rifle to his right indicated Slayride took care of the other zombie. Dead End upfront fired a long volley of shots ahead, taking out several. Misfire fired behind them, missing pretty much all of his shots except for a couple of lucky ones. Sinnertwin immediately moved to cover the flank with Misfire, which Sinnertwin was doing as well. "Hey, I got here first. A-hole," he shouted out, immediately firing a shot into the horde.

"I have a rifle. You don't. Go cover Dead End," he told him. Sinnertwin gave him a glare before relenting, firing another shot as he backed up to Dead End.

"So, any idea how this is going to end?" he asked him, spinning around and firing at the zombies coming his way with the scatterblaster.

"We all die horribly," he answered succinctly, firing into the chest of all the zombies he could see, which he was doing marvelously, keeping most zombies at a distance.

"Why did we split up again?" he asked, shooting a zombie that managed to get past Dead End's kill-zone.

"To cover more ground. In hindsight, probably not the best idea," Dead End answered.

"You think!" he shouted, firing another blast and taking a zombie's head off.

"Just stay calm. We ejected most of them off the ship. All we got to do is hold them off," Dead End tried to comfort him.

"Now why are so suddenly optimistic?" Sinnertwin asked in a slightly amused tone.

"I'm not, just stating facts. We've gotten rid of most of them and these are just the leftovers. I noticed that one zombie emerged from each door I saw."

"Which means that there still is a lot of them!" he yelled out, still firing.

"Primus, stop being pessimistic. That's Dead End's shtick," Misfire complained behind them.

"They probably wouldn't be so pessimistic if you could actually hit something!" Slayride also complained behind them.

"You think you're the only one that's said that?" Misfire asked him, as one of the many shots he fired actually blew a zombie's arm off.

"It needs to be repeated," he harshly told him, shooting the one-armed zombie re-dead.

"Calm down and keep firing," Dead End told the both of them and fired at an incoming zombie.

XXX

"Scratch one more!" Killshot shouted out, a zombie collapsing down to the ground, hopefully never getting back up again. They were in the middle of a square with zombies coming at all sides. There weren't as many zombies as earlier, but there was still quite a bit. They had all took a corridor, with Skywarp right behind him and Hook and Cyclone taking the sides. The amounts of zombies were already dwindling, with the four of them being very efficient at killing them. Cyclone was laughing manically, glad at the prospect of killing a fragload of the things that killed Demolisher. Skywarp and Hook weren't saying much, just giving progress reports on their ends with a one-liner every now and then.

"I'm almost out of zombies here," Cyclone complained. "I was expecting a lot more than this!"

"Be glad there isn't," Hook told him. Cyclone ignored him, slaughtering every zombie in his way with a mixture of blaster-fire and his helicopter blades. He sliced at one, cutting its head off and then cutting it in half with a swing of his right arm. He was extra-close to Killshot, sending some purple Energon from the dead body towards him and accidently covering his shades, blocking some of his vision.

"Ah, frag!" he cursed. He immediately lifted the shades up to see with one hand while blind-firing with his gun in the other hand. He saw two zombies dropping to the ground, but a third one was untouched, crossing the distance between the two and slamming into him. The two tumbled to the ground. Killshot reacted quickly and try bashing his gun into the zombie face. Before he could do that, the zombie was leaping for him, arms outstretched. Killshot used a different plan, holding the gun horizontally, letting the zombie sink his mouth into it and actually crushed it with his bite. Killshot kicked the zombie backed and quickly draw out his pistol and shooting several shots straight through its chest.

He quickly noticed a couple of zombies closing the distance between them and quickly fired several times at them, taking them out and running out of bullets in his clip. He had a few seconds of breathing room, so he reloaded and took a quick look at his rifle. "Dammit! You broke my rifle. Swindle's going to charge me for that, you undead scrapheaps!" he screamed out, shooting at the zombies with renew vigor.

XXX

Scavenger tried to ignore the sounds coming from outside the door. When the doors opened, Scavenger thought quickly and immediately bashed one of the zombies emerging from the door to the death and shut the door before any more could rushed in. He was safe, but not for long. The door was creaking, want to give in…

Scavenger looked for a way out. It was virtually identical to the room in which he met that "Flame" guy. There weren't any doors that led to another room. Scavenger silently cursed at Primus at that. He paced around the room, trying to think of something. The door? No, way too many zombie out there, waiting to eat him. Maybe try to break through the wall? Nah, he didn't have anything to do that. Maybe- ah, forget it. Scavenger angrily kicked a wall in frustration…

…and immediately regretted that. Scavenger hopped on one foot, trying to nurse his aching foot and ending up failing when he tripped on his own tail. Scavenger landed straight on his aft, further hating his situations. Scavenger leaned his head back, cursing both Primus and Unicron. The door was creaking louder now, meaning the zombies were about to break in and rip him apart. There was nothing he could-

The fragging vents. Scavenger stared up to his salvation and immediately got up and grabbed the nearest table under the vent hatch. He then went to get another table to place on top of it, ignoring the louder sounds the door was making. He dragged the table over and quickly lifted the table on top of the other one. It was pretty light and sturdy, so both of them should hold him. Scavenger scaled the tables quickly and was on top of the tables, getting ready to open the hatch.

CLANG!

The door busted opened, immediately letting the zombies in. Scavenger opened the hatch and quickly got his hands on it when the zombies collapsed into the tables, knocking them to the ground and leaving Scavenger hanging in the air. Scavenger immediately tried getting himself up, not wanting to be zombie chow. He managed to pull himself up to his chest when he felt a sudden tug on his tail, nearly send him down to the horde. He looked down and saw and zombie grasping onto his tail. Scavenger pulled himself up, bringing the zombie along with him. He manage to get everything except his tail into the vent. Scavenger got his E-tool out and slowly back up, bring his tail in bit-by-bit until he saw the hands. Scavenger immediately brought his hand down on the hand, chopping it off and sending the zombie back to the horde. Scavenger got the pair of hands off his tail before heading through the vents.

XXX

A tall figure paced around the room, thinking about what to do. Should he look up more information about his friend's condition? Nah, this is probably the only place that had information about it. Should he go explore the ship a little more? Nope to that, too. Seeing the cases of all his undead co-workers and then some was a little disturbing. Stare at the wall? That could work?

"Ack!" a raspy, undead sounding voice came from a zombie with a red light on the side of his head from the other side of the room.

"The dark energon must be wearing off," the white and orange figure muttered to himself as he went to grab another needle of it. He only use a small amount of it, about 1/10th of a syringe, enough to make any of the zombies ignored him. Granted, he kinda liked it when the zombie in the room with him growled at him. It meant it was paying attention, granted, not in the way he would like, but it was still something. The zombie was struggling even more now against the chain around its neck. It was significantly smaller than the living figure, making the comparison between the two almost comical.

The figure grabbed the syringe and injected it into him. The zombie slowly calm down until it didn't notice him and just stand there, walking aimlessly, looking for anything to kill. Flame had learned that filling your body with energon had the side-effect of making the zombies ignore you. The shot of that amount would last roughly a joor.

The door opened, letting in Flame, who looked really pissed. "Is everything alright?" the yellow-optic figure asked him.

"No, it isn't, Chromedome. We're about to lose the station to boarding Decepticons and we need to find a way out," he informed him.

"What? How do we get out and where do we go?" Chromedome asked.

"We'll get a ship from the hanger and fly out of here. As for where we go, I'll figure that later. Now, get the supplies and let's get out of here," flame ordered him firmly.

"What do we do with Rewind?" he asked, indicating to the zombie chained up. "We can't just leave him here. You said that you would fix this," Chromedome told him. Flame stiffen a groaned from coming out of his mouth and started compromising.

"Okay, I'll get the supplies while you carry him," Flame told him, before stacking some boxes on top of each other and carrying them. Chromedome nodded his head and went to unchained Rewind. His black-and-white paint job still looked brand new and his camera on the side of his head was still operational, indicating that someone kept him in good condition. His eyes were just like any other zombie, which glow an unnatural purple. Chromedome picked his small friend up, and followed Flame out the door towards the hanger.


	36. Little Things PT 3

"Is that the last one?" Misfire asked the group, taking his hand out of the zombie's chest, leaving it to crumble to the ground.

Crack!

The quick shot from Dead End's rifle firing into a crawling zombie answered that for him. "This one was," Dead End answered nonchalantly, relaxing himself. The group huddled together around the last dead zombie. The whole hallway was splatter with energon from the zombies, giving the room a slightly purplish hue, as if knowing that the Decepticons had won.

"I think he's still twitching," Sinnertwin said, acting sedated for now. Primus knows when he'll go back to being angry again. Indeed, the zombie was twitching, pathetically trying to latch onto something, anything really. It didn't care that both of its legs were blown off, half its face was missing, along with an arm, and his chest cavity was wide open, showing everyone its purple spark.

"Look at the insides," Slayride pointed out. Every wire and circuitry was glowing a ominous purple color. The spark casing was leaking, spilling out the zombie's precious energon. It reached out and weakly grasped Slayride's leg.

"It's determine to eat you up," Misfire spouted out. Slayride ignored him and crouched down to get a look at the half of the zombie's face still remaining. Wires jutted out of the half that still remained and the processor was gone. The hold that the zombie had over his leg was growing weaker by the second, but he didn't notice. He just looked at the creature's fading eye until they were completely black and the hold over his leg was gone. The zombie laid still, not moving. Slayride gave a little grunt and step back from the redead.

"Alright, so what do we do now?" questioned Sinnertwin, looking to Dead End. Dead End gave a shrug before trying to get Killshot on the comms.

"Killshot, are you there?" he asked into the receiver. The sound of gunfire immediately enter his receiver as Killshot shouted out.

"Not talking right now. Right now I'm killing every single one of the scrapheaps that broke my rifle and making me have to PAY SWINDLE BACKFOR THAT!" The line cut out, leaving Dead end with his group.

"He's busy," he told the group. "With them preoccupied, we should continue our search for Scavenger.

Creak!

The four looked up. Above them, the vent gave a creaking sound, as if it was about to come down. Everyone, except Misfire, instinctively took a few paces back, knowing what was going to happen next. Misfire was too preoccupied with trying to figured out what it was above them that he didn't noticed them stepping back. "I think there may be some mesh-eaters up in the vents. Anybody wants to shoot up there?" he asked. He looked at everyone else only to see them backing up. "Uh, why are you-"was all he manage to say before the vent caved in and sent Scavenger screaming and falling down right on top of misfire with a large slab of metal under him. Misfire yelled as well, but that was quickly cut off as when Scavenger made contact.

The three looked at Scavenger, who was panting, trying to calm himself down. He did a few more intakes before he stop intaking and looked at the other three. "Sorry. Thought you guys were zombies," Scavenger said timidly.

"Can… you… get… off… me?" Misfire weakly asked from under him. Scavenger share a quick, surprised look under him, before quickly getting off the metal slab, leaving Misfire to push the thing off him.

"For the record, Autobot maintenance blows," he told everyone.

XXX

The door to the hanger opened, letting in Flame carrying the dark energon along information to it and Chromedome was carrying Rewind, who was still passive to the world around him. "Alright, so we need a ship to get off the station," Flame muttered, looking around and taking noticed of Gutcruncher's opened ship. "In there. It looks like they left it open for us to use," he told Chromedome. "Move." The two quickly ran into the ship and Flame laid his stuff to the side while Chromedome went to explore the ship for anything with Rewind in tow.

Flame looked over the controls of the ship and clicked a button to start the ship. A screen suddenly came on, asking for an ignition code. Flame let out a small curse under his breath and pounded his fist against the console. Without a code, they couldn't use the ship. He started thinking of other ships around the area, before he noticed from the window of the ship that the hanger door was opening again, this time letting in Shockwave and Gutcruncher. Flame immediately ducked himself from view, not wanting to be spotted, and crawl away from it.

Meanwhile, Shockwave and Gutcruncher were making deals. "Come on, you kill him first and I'll get you the item needed," Gutcruncher tried to coaxed him.

"And I remind you that he is the only one who has my information. I need him alive in order for the Psychic Cortical Patch to work," Shockwave refused.

"Yeah, but- of, look at that! You're idiot crewmates leave the door opened," Gutcruncher complained.

"Is that something to whine about?" Shockwave asked him.

"Not really," he conceded. "I'm just in a complaining mood," he said, the two walking towards the ship. The two entered the ship, Gutcruncher immediately noticing something. "They drank my high-grade! Primus slag them!" Gutcruncher shouted out to the world.

"You're complaining again," Shockwave coolly informed him.

"I know, but you think they have some common decency," he complained.

"How hypocritical," Shockwave cut in.

"Shut it."

Meanwhile, Flame was taking his stuff deeper into the ship wanting to avoid the conversing Decepticons. He was not letting his escape plan be ruin by some stupid coincidence such as this. "Uh, Flame? Is anything wrong? Rewind is trying to get away from me," Chrome informed him.

"Some of the inferior Decepticons are on the ship, including Shockwave. I'm trying to avoid them and I'm heading to you," he told him.

Shockwave? Scrap… get here quickl- whoa," Chromedome cut himself off.

"What?"

There's another ship in here." That got his interest.

"Hold still, I'm coming right now. We need that ship."

XXX

"One more down!" Hook shouted after he sprayed a downed zombie with a blast of his repeater, almost completely caving the chest in.

"Same here!" Skywarp shouted, suing his blue arm to pierce through its chest.

"Tell me when they're all dead!" Killshot shouted out, his glasses currently placed above his eyes. He didn't have the time to wipe them clean, yet, so he just fired without them. He wasn't as accurate as he was with them, but he was still putting holes in the zombies' chest. It's just that they had a lot more holes than before.

"I'm out of zombies!" Cyclone complained.

That is not something to worry about," Hook chided across from him, spraying another couple of zombies down.

"But I'm bored," Cyclone complained. He looked at his hallways. Disassembled parts of the zombies and dark energon were everywhere, and Cyclone was coated in the stuff. He might've accidentally swallowed some of that purplely stuff too, but he was sure that didn't matter, although, there was a purple glint around his optics…

He heard clinking coming from the right corridor and Cyclone grinned a bit. Oh, he was going to enjoy killing these bastards. Cyclone pranced down the hallway and pounced at the nearest target…

only to be flipped on his aft.

"Oh. damn! Sorry dude, thought you were a zombie," a voiced complained. He looked up to see Misfire over him, along with the others of his group, including some guy he didn't recongnize.

Wait…

"Aren't you that missing guy," Cyclone pointed on his back at Scavenger.

"Uh, yeah," Scavenger answered.

"Oh… hi. Thought you be dead by now with you being by yourself," he told him bluntly.

"Yeah, I kinda did too," Scavenger agreed.

"We still got zombies to deal with, Dead End pointed out, him having walked away from the group to see all the gunfire was about.

"Better go kill them," Sinnertwin chipped in with a happy sounding tone, although he was still looking calm. Looks like he doesn't lose that need to kill when sedated.

"Not much left, unfortunately," Cyclone informed them.

"Doesn't matter, we can still kill something," Slayride conceded with Sinnertwin and the two of them rush past the corridor, guns drawn. The others follow them, with Cyclone bring up the rear. Dead End and Misfire paired up with Killshot, Scavenger and Cyclone with Hook, and Sinnertwin and Slayride with Skywarp.

"Are you alright," Hook asked Scavenger with a worried tone while spraying as many rounds as he can at the horde.

"I'm fine, Hook. Look, can we talk about this on the ship?" he asked him. Hook gave him a quick look before smashing a zombie that got too close in the face and spraying its chest full of rounds.

"If it will make you feel better," he conceded. We'll talk about it, tonight."

"Good."

XXX

"You found us. Great. It's right here" Chromedome told him, holding Rewind back from exiting the room. Flame walked in with his supplies and looked at the ship. It was a small ship, could probably hold 4 people comfortably. Flame walked inside the open door, looking inside. His assumption was correct. You could definitely hold four people comfortably. There were four berths and a equal number of storage closets. Flame laid his supply to the side and motion for Chromedome to come inside. He did, and place Rewind in a closet to keep secure for his own safety. "Alright, what do we do?" he asked him.

"Hold on, let me see… ah! No activation code. Good. We can use this. Open the door," he ordered of the ship. Chromedome silently walked away, leaving Flame by himself. He started the ship, turning all of the lights on. He could hear a slight rumble, indicating it was on. Not long after, he could hear a louder ruckus, indicating the doors were opening. Chromedome rushed in as the doors were slowly drawn up, putting more light in the room until it was fully opened. "Ah, it's the little things like this…."

"What the frag is that!" Gutcruncher yelled out, looking through the cockpit window. He could see a ship fly out of the station, but not any ship, his own personal ship. "Those bastards!" he he yelled out dashing out of the ship with Shockwave behind him. He looked at his ship flying through the barrier, leaving him behind. "That… was my ship," he muttered.

XXX

Crack!

Dead End holster his rifle as the last zombie was taken down. Sinnertwin, Slayride, and Skywarp sit by a wall, relaxing; Hook, Scavenger, and Cyclone were checking to make sure all the zombies were legit dead; and Killshot and Misfire were hanging around him, relaxing, although Killshot still looked piss about the rifle. "You're alright?" Dead End asked him.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just taking pleasure from the little things in life," he said, staring at all the dead zombies he caused.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What? You think that shipception thing was just a joke? Nope.


	37. Causality PT 1

"Will you hurry up?" Warmup complained from behind Bombline. They had been stuck outside of Talos Five, waiting for a course of action. Cooldown had taken it easily; Warmup didn't. This was insufferable to him, waiting on the ship in standby mode while their leader came up with a course of action.

"Would you be as so kind as to shut the frag up," Bombline replied smoothly.

"Calm down, both of you," Cooldown muttered from aside.

"He started this," Warmup said.

"Are you seriously saying that?" Bombline said, indignantly.

"Yeah, I am, and my twin is backing me up on this, right?" Warmup asked his blue look-alike.

"Why do I even bother?" Cooldown muttered to himself.

"OK, you know what? Let's just fly and see what we find!" Bombline yelled, turning the ship back on. Suddenly the ship crackled and the lights were forced off, bathing them in darkness except for the light projected from their optics.

"Wow, great job."

"Shut it."

XXX

In the bowels of a ship, loud, fast, vicious, evil sounding music was erupting from within. These were coming from the speakers put everywhere around the room. The owner of them sat in the center of the room, fixing up a TV. A couple of idiots got drunk and fought and one of them ran the other's face in the screen.

The bot was a tall, gangly figure with green colors and red trimmings, with blue optics and a red visor. He was bobbing his head as he replaced the screen. He was the ship's chief mechanic and was responsible for all the ship's repair and usually had two guys to fix minor repairs such as this. Unfortunately, his two men were the ones who fought. One was getting his face repaired while the other one was getting a stern talking too from the SIC. Morons.

A screen came on, indicating a transmission, and some noise came on but he didn't noticed. He just kept on toiling away. In response, the noise got louder, a feature he put in so it could get his attention. It kept going and going until he heard it and looked at it. He trudged his feet towards the screen, wanting to shut the noise himself. He didn't bother turning the music off; they get used to it. A click and a face came on the screen; a face that didn't belong to the crew…

"Cooldown. How are you doing?" he asked loudly, although he could told by how much he was grimacing.

"Bad. Bombline and Warmup are at it. I can hear them yelling in the other room," he informed him, the grimaced not leaving his face. "And your terrible music is still playing."

"Sounds like the usual."

"Yeah."

"So tell me why you're actually calling?" he asked him. Cooldown gave a short sigh before telling him.

"Our ship broke down," he answered.

"That's kinda bad," Grindcore told hm.

"Yeah… Could you possibly pick us up?" he asked him.

"Maybe. Depends where you are," he told him.

"Outside Talos Five."

"Lucky you. We're heading there now to resupply. We should be able to get you on the way there," he told him.

"Great. Thanks, Grindcore."

"You're welcome."

"You should really turn your music down. You probably going to blow your audio receptors," he joked.

"Yeah, right. See you later," he said, ending the call. "Now," he muttered to himself, walking back to the screen, "back to work."

Knock! Knock! Knock!

"Ugh," he muttered. He went over to the door and pressed a button, sliding the door opened, showing the tall, bulky form of Goliath, causing Grindcore to shift his head upward slightly to look him in the eyes. "Hey, can I have my men back?" he asked him, arms crossed. "TV screens are below me."

"Once Salvage is done with his punishment and Camshaft get his face fixed, yes" Goliath answered.

"Great, now why are you here?"

"Music complaint."

"Seriously," he asked in disbelief.

"Yes."

"Who?"

"Me. Corpsegrinder. The twins."

"Oh," he muttered before walking over and lowering the music. "Better?"

"Much," he said, leaving.

"Wait!" he yelled out, running too him. "Speaking of twins, I got a called from a friend of mine. Him, his twin, and a friend of there's. Their ship broke down and I told them we could pick them up. They're right outside Talos Five," he informed.

"Hmm," I guess we could do that. I'll tell Corpsegrinder about them," he said.

"Great. Later," he told him, heading back to his room. Goliath watched him enter his room and closed his door.

XXX

"The bastards stole my ship!" Gutcruncher yelled out, pacing around the hanger. Shockwave watched him paced about, looking uninterested in his plight.

"You still have your ship," he indicated to the bigger, black ship.

"That? Who gives a damn about that? I don't!" he answered half-crazed. He gave him a strange look. "Okay, new deal. You give me my ship backed and I'll give you the patch," he offered.

"Why is this ship so important to you?" he asked.

"I built that ship with my _own two hands_. I've had that since before this whole war started. It's important to me. The audacity of those fraggers for stealing _my ship_ is impressive, I'll admit, but it insulting and humiliating to me. I want them dead and I want my ship back in perfect condition. You got that?" he told him.

"If I do this, you'll give me the patch?" Shockwave asked him.

"Exactly. I couldn't give less of a scrap about killing Swindle, I just want the ship back," he said. "I would do this myself, but this station is such a big haul, I can't risk it," he explained. "So," he said, sticking his hand out, "deal?" Shockwave briefly considered it before shaking it.

"Deal. Any idea where to find it?" Shockwave asked him.

"Hold on," Gutcruncher said, briefly entering his other ship and came back out with a device in his hand. "Here. It's a tracker. I've placed one on the ship and it should lead you straight to them," Gutcruncher informed him.

"Good," Shockwave said, examining it.

"Alright. I'll go yelled for my mine and we'll start stripping this place down and retrieve Demolisher's remains, wherever they are," he said, walking away. Shockwave looked down at the device in his hand briefly before leaving the hanger.

XXX

Swindle walked into his room. The going was tough, but he made it. He walked into his room, admiring the place. There was still hles thanks to his fight with Scavenger, but he could fix those. It just cost money, which ticked him off, but he could deal with it. He was about to descend the stairs when he noticed the screen on his was flashing. A message. He better go look at it. He sat down in the chair and looked at whom the message is from.

Megatron.


	38. Causality PT 2

"Scavenger," Hook called out to him. Scavenger was walking away from everyone, intending to head back to the ship and ignore everyone else, but it look like Hook wasn't having it.

"Yeah, what?" he asked, not turning around.

"Where are you going?" he asked him.

"Back to the ship. Job's done. Might as well leave," he explained.

"True, but stick around a little longer. We still need to talk." He said, coming up beside him.

"Like what?" Scavenger asked. He knew what, but he didn't want to handle it right now.

"Okay, look. I'm… I'm… I'm sorry," Hook said, actually sounding sincere this time. "I know I'm a hard-aft, but it comes with the job. If I'm not hard on you, you could slip up and kill someone by accident." Scavenger looked aside, feeling guilty.

"I'm sorry too. I overreacted. I really shouldn't have just got mad at you for complimenting Misfire. He deserved it," Scavenger said.

"Hey, remember, that guy messes up a lot. Complimenting him could increase his mental stability," Hook said.

"Yeah, speaking of that, I had another episode, Hook," Scavenger said worryingly.

"You did?" Hook asked.

"Yeah, but he was helping me this time. He saved my life," Scavenger said, a air of confusion in his tone.

"Come again?"

"He told me about this guy who was about to kill me and told me to duck, so I did?"

"Well now, that's interesting… Wait! Did you say someone try to kill you? As in someone who was still alive?" Hook questioned.

"Yes, I did…." Scavenger draw out, coming to a halt. Hook too stopped right beside him.

"Slag!" he said, running back to the group with Scavenger following close behind him. They reached the group quickly, surprising them.

"What up?" Misfire asked.

"We got a big problem. While Scavenger was separated from us, someone attacked him. Someone alive." That got their attention. Everyone was on their feet, weapons drawn, waiting for the next bit of info.

"He looked like a medic," Scavenger specify. "Red, orange, and yellow. Had a shock prod. Talk about the zombies like they were his creation." Killshot and Misfire looked at each other.

"Think he could be the same guy on the terminal," Killshot asked him.

"No doubt."

"Care to inform me on something," Dead End asked them.

"Oh, yeah. The terminal," Scavenger said.

"See, we found a log on a terminal and their was this one crazy guy. Last on a few megacycles ago. Should still be here unless he took of while we were dealing with the zombies here."

"Alright then, let's hunt this sick bastard down!" Cyclone shouted out.

"I have no problem with that," Slayride agree with Sinnertwin nodding his head approvingly.

"Great. Let's stick together. We might've missed something," Dead End cautioned everyone.

XXX

On Flame's recently required ship, he started trying to contact someone. "Who are you trying to get?" Chromedome asked at the back of the ship, checking on Rewind, who was docile right now.

"Trying to contact a old friend to – Ah! Corpsegrinder. How are you doing?" he asked pleasantly.

"Flame," he growled out. "What do you want?"

"Simple. My current place of residence was overrun by Decepticons and I need help."

"Decepticons? What did they look like?" he asked, interested.

"I only saw a few of them. One was a purple-and-green colored monstrosity. The other was some green con. "

"Doesn't sound like anybody important," Corpsegrinder said, about to cutoff this conversation.

"Shockwave was there too," he said. Corpse grinder paused at that.

"Shockwave?"

"Yeah, you know. Tall, one-optic, one-arm, no-face," Flame specify.

"Yes, I do…" Corpsegrinder said, interest entering his voice.

"That got your attention?" he asked.

"Yes, considering my men encounter him yesterday with Decepticons."

"Well, now. This is important. We need to stick together if few want to survive kill them," Flame said. Corpsegrinder thought it over.

"Come to Talos Five. We'll talk more there," he said and closed off the line, leaving Flame to face a blank screen.

"Corpsegrinder? Are you sure we should be working with him," Chromedome asked behind him, worried.

"Yes, I'm sure. Last time we talked didn't ended on good terms, but we're still allies… I think," Flame said. "Anyway, what else can we do? Most of the other Autobots are dead and Optimus Prime wants us to join him on a suicidal mission on Earth. It's best to just go to the pirates and stick around with them," Flame said.

"Yeah, good point," Chromedome agreed. "Still, do we really have to go after these guys? Can we just stay out of it?" he asked him.

"Normally, I would agree with that, but we lack something very valuable: resources. We have nothing except what's on this ship and what we brought." The pirates? The regularly ships and get new stuff all the time. We could make a suitable lab with what they can provide." Chromedome agreed with that and went back to taking care of Rewind.

XXX

The Flame-hunting group on the ship were looking through the rooms one-by-one, finding absolutely nothing. All they find were empty rooms that painted a picture of what a zombie did before he became a member of the undead. It was frustrating, finding nothing.

That is, until they stumble onto the lab.

"Oh, Primus!" Killshot yelled out as he walked in. Bodies were all around the room: Decepticons, Autobots, and neutrals. There was one on a table, face contorted in a permanent face of agony. Energon was all over the room, covering the ceiling, walls, floor, and bodies. Consoles were spread around the room, most of the functional room. "This guy is one sick fragger," he murmur.

"Consoles working. Might as well check them out," Dead End murmur behind them., heading towards one of them. The others gave a little shook of their shoulders and check out the other consoles.

"Wow," Misfire said aloud. "This is interesting. Apparently, they've been having supply problems for a while now. Needed more stuff to help run their experiments. They started using frequency shifters to lure people. If not enough people came, they would kill off their own for energon and scrap metal. Pretty cold," Skywarp muttered the last part.

"That's what happens when you're on the losing tram," Killshot shot off rather coldly. "Also, these guys really went crazy. A lot of them started using this dark energon slag in place of regular energon to keep them going. Many of them had to be put down, because they started going crazy," Killshot told everyone.

"Yeah, according to this," Slayride said, "a lot of them started hearing voices. Several of them killed other others for baseless reasons. One of them killed someone because he didn't trust people with square heads."

"That has to be humiliating," Hook said. "Apparently, these guys got a whole room filled with dark-energon. They mined it from somewhere. Doesn't say where, though."

"Looks like we're finding the causality of this station," Misfire remarked. "Ohh, I found a crew log of the ship's members. According to this, everyone is dead except for two people, and one of them definitely look likes Scavenger's attacker," he told everyone.

"What's his name?" questioned Dead End.

"Flame. I don't know him," Misfire said.

"And I do," Dead End responded. "One nasty piece of work. Never understood why he allied with the Autobots," Dead End said.

"Does it matter? He tried to kill me. He deserves to die like anyone else," Scavenger said harshly from the other side of the room.

"Agree," Sinnertwin said. "Anybody who does this deserves a knife through their spark."

"He's responsible for Demolisher's death. He has it coming," Cyclone agreed with everyone else.

"Who was the other 'Bot" Dead End asked.

"Some mnemosurgeon called Chromedome," he said.

"Never heard of him," Dead End said and everyone agreed with that.

"Well, I don't know about you guys, but I think this is all we're going to find about what happen to this station," Kilshot agreed.

"We haven't figure out why they started making zombies," Scavenger said, confused.

"My guess, they did that when there was few of them left and took personal notes. We're not going to find information from these official computers," Killshot hypothesize.

"Well than, let's go find that information," Sinenrtwin said, walking briskly out of the lab for more clues, the other following his lead.


	39. Causality PT 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FYI: This officially makes it a year since I've posted the first chapter on FanFiction. Thanks to everybody who has read this and supported my story!

"Honestly, you think we could not destroy our TVs?" Zyglrox complained amongst the medics after they were done fixing Camshaft's face. "I've got shows to wa- OW!" he yelled out as the burn cream was reapplied to his face.

"Quit whining," Equale said, as he tried to hold the soldier still. "The more you move, the more this hurts."

"Oh, please forgive me. It's just that this feels like someone is stabbing me in the face," Zyglrox mockingly apologized.

"Maybe if you didn't fly, face first, into a jet thruster, this wouldn't be happening," Equale replied smoothly.

"Well, at least you feel better than robot hands," Zyglrox said, shooting a dirty look at Scarhearler, who was watching over Camshift's offline form.

"Well, we are made of metal. Not really any room to be soft to organics," Scarhealer conceded.

"Oh, come on. You're not going to make a witty comment for the conver- GAH!" Zyglrox gagged as some of the cream accidently got in his mouth.

"I told you to keep your mouth shut when someone's applying cream," Scarhealer reminded him. Zyglrox didn't hear him, as he was busy trying to spit the damn cream out of his mouth. He got off the table and headed for the sink, turning on the warm facet and trying desperately to get the taste out of his mouth. Scarhealer and Equale watched him in moderate amusement.

"Oh, come on. It can't taste that bad," Equale said. Zyglrox heard that one as he fling a middle finger at him briefly before putting it back in his mouth to scrap the taste away. He kept splashing water in his mouth, accidently geeting it on his face and washing away the cream while turning the extremely dull, but definitely manageable pain, to a searing scorch almost as bad as when he flew into the thruster.

"Ow, ow, ow! Shit, shit, shit!" he yelled out, splashing more water into his face , magnifying the pain. "Why does my face hurt!" Equale apparently had enough and pulled him from the sink. He grabbed a towel and immediately started drying his face, ignoring the muffled screaming behind the towel.

"So, is Camshaft still fine," Equale asked, keeping the pirate secure.

"Vitals are all okay," Scarhealer said. "Thank goodness," he muttered to himself.

"What was that?" he asked.

"Ah, nothing. Just saying how glad he is to still be alive. I mean. All of us have been through a lot, but we took some heavy causalities over on Espera," he said. "Would be really bad to lose more after that."

"Yeah," he agreed, lifting the towel from Zyglrox's face.

"Ow,' he said, holding his face. "That really hurt," he muttered.

"Well, it's your fault for splashing warm water onto your face. By the way, I'm going to have to reapply the cream to your face because you washed it off," he informed him.

"Son of a bitch," he gasped out, heading to the table for the reapplication process. Equale watched him sit down before talking to Scarhealer again."

"You know, you should talk to someone about Dabola sometime," he said.

"Dabola? Why?" he asked.

"Well, you were having a bit of a breakdown early about it," Equale said.

"Yeah, you were really freaking out about it," Zyglrox agreed.

"Ugh…" he sighed to himself before answering, "alright. Look, maybe I can talk to you tomorrow or something," he said to Equale.

"Why me?" he asked.

"Who else but a medic that worked with me for a extremely long time," Scarhealer told him.

"Hmph, that makes sense," he agreed. "Why don't you go check everyone else out. Make sure everything is okay and relax a little bit. I can hold the fort here while you're gone," he told him. Scarhealer thought about it for a little bit before conceding.

"Alright. I'll go check up with some of the others. Maybe Corpsegrinder and some others," he said, heading out the door.

"And relax a little bit," Equale ordered him.

"And relaxed a little bit," he parroted him, the door closing shut. Equale turned his attention back to Zyglrox as he put some cream back in his hand for the reapplication process.

"You think he will be fine?" Zyglrox asked.

"Yeah, I think so. He just needs to talk it out a bit. Speaking of talking it out," he said, giving Zyglrox a comforting gaze, "you've better shut up this time while I'm applying the cream."

XXX

The Decepticons kept on searching for Flame, but turned up with nothing, having searched the whole ship. On the bright side, they did confirm that all the zombies were dead for good. The 'Cons eventually met up again at the bridge of the ship with Shockwave and Gutcruncher waiting there.

"And where have all of you been?" Gutcruncher asked them, mainly his subordinates.

"There were some remnants of zombies left alive," Dead End informed him.

"I know that. Skywarp mentioned that as he stole Cyclone from me," he said, giving a glare at the purple seeker.

"We were also looking for someone. An Autobot, by the name of Flame. We couldn't find him anywhere on the ship," Dead End said.

"So that's the bastard who stole my ship!" Gutcruncher yelled out, fist clenched.

"Uh, say again," Sinnertwin motion from behind Dead End.

"Someone stole my other ship inside the ship-"

"Shipception," Misfire interrupted, earning glares from everybody around the room.

"As I was saying, someone stole my other ship and flew off. I made a arrangement with Shockwave about getting it back," Gutcruncher said.

"We can do that," Skywarp agreed, "after we killed the guy who killed Thundercracker."

"Thundercracker's dead," he asked.

"Yeah," Skywarp said.

"Hunh, I figured you die first," Gutcruncher offhandly mentioned.

"Screw you, too," Skywarp said, insulted.

"No offense," Gutcruncher tried to apologized. "It's just that, well, you don't have good survival instinct."

"I'm withholding my urge to stab you in the face," Skywarp threatened.

"Alright, alright, let's get back on topic," Dead End tried to get ordered.

"Agree. We should be leaving. There's nothing more that needs to be done on this station," Shockwave said, leaving without saying good-bye to Gutcruncher. The rest of the group followed suit, with Skywarp giving a particularly menacing glare to Gutcruncher before he left, leaving Gutcruncher and his men in the room.

"Well, time's a wasting. Let's striped this station clean."

XXX

The "Cons entered there ship, where Swindle was waiting in the cockpit. "Didn't I tell you to go rest in your room?" Hook asked him.

"Yeah, but I got a message from Megatron." That got everybody's attention. "Before we go on after the guy who killed Thundercracker, we got to go do a couple of things for him that he wants resolve. First off, he wants us to go to a broadcasting station nearby and figured out why it's been silent for a while. Megatron's propaganda is inactive without that station. After that, he wants us to go to Messatine and head to a facility there called Delphi. I have no idea why he wants us to go there, but he did stress the fact that Vortex was there."

"Vortex? Then it's likely the DJD is involved as well," Dead End mentioned.

"The DJD? Ugh, I hate those guys," Misfire said.

"We all do, but we have to work with them," Swindle said.

"But they're fanatics," Skywarp said.

"Along with an obsession for torture," Shockwave mentioned.

"I'm surprise you're complaining about them," Swindle mentioned.

"They've had suspicions about me. Their inability to trust anybody but themselves and Megatron is a hindrance to me," Shockwave rationalized.

"Also, they're scary," Scavenger said.

"Well than, deal with it," Swindle ordered them. "Megatron wants us to do it, we do it, otherwise he'll send them after us," Swindle warned. "Now that we're done, go rest. We should be at the broadcasting station tomorrow." Everyone agreed and walked out. "Except Killshot." Killshot stopped in his track and looked at Swindle. Everybody carried on, leaving the room to the two of them. "Come over here," he motioned for Killshot to sit right next to him. Killshot complied, taking a seat next to him.

"So, what do you want from me?" Killshot asked.

"Megatron knows about the relic," Swindle said, bluntly.

"You're kidding?" he disbelievingly asked only to earn nothing but a serious look from Swindle. "Damn... How did Soundwave know?" 

"I'm pretty sure he didn't. I've checked the ship for bugs after that and found none. Checked the ship's system and found nothing. This leaves one conclusion."

"What's that?" Killshot asked.

"Simple," Swindle muttered. "It means someone on this ship is feeding him info and you're the only one I trust," he explained.

"Dammit. You want me to keep an extra optic on everyone," he asked.

"Yes. Quick question, who do you think could be spying for him," Swindle asked. Killshot thought about it for a sec before answering.

"Skywarp. He's probably the most loyal person here."

"He does seem to be the most likely," Swindle agreed, "but keep a optic on everyone, just the same."

"Alright, so what does he want you to do with the relic?" he asked.

"He wants us to hold on to it until he's done killing Optimus Prime over on Earth and make another copy, just in case," Swindle explained.

"Let me guess, universal conquest," Killshot said.

"What else. Megatron's in no hurry. He'll probably take a stellar cycle taking care of miscellaneous things going on with the Decepticons before he arrives on Earth," Swindle told him.

"Alright. If we're done here, I'm heading to my room. Night," he said, getting out of his seat and leaving.

"Night," Swindle muttered, as he disengage the ship from the station and started heading out into the stars to the next objective.


	40. Networking PT 1

Killshot strolled into his room, wanting to relax a bit. A mole on the ship was distressing, but it wouldn't be the first time Megatron use spies to rut out internal problems. The big question is why did he send one with his group? He'll try and figure that out later, but now it was time to spend some time with his guns…

Which Misfire was handling right now. "What the frag are you doing with my guns?" he asked, ready to cause some harm if he do anything stupid, like shooting the gun.

"I'm just messing around," Misfire said, aiming the gun and alternating between making "pew" and "bang" sounds.

"Uh-hun, and exactly why are you screwing around with my weapons?" he asked.

"Because it's fun," he replied, as if it was the most obvious reason in the world. "That and you're my friends, so I figured you wouldn't mind if I touch your stuff."

"You thought wrong."

"Oh, come on. What's wrong with me pretending to fire your gun?" Misfire complained.

"You accidently firing it," Killshot replied quickly.

"Oh, come on. Surely you know I'm more responsible than that."

*Crack*

A shot exit from the rifle, almost hitting Killshot and lodging itself inside Skywarp's door. "Uh, sorry. Won't happen again," Misfire said, holding his hands up in the air with the gun pointed towards the ceiling.

*Crack*

Another exited, hitting one of the light fixtures. "Oh, scrap," Misfire said. "Okay, look, I'm sorry, won't happen again, but look on the bright side. I know I'm suppose to make a 'bang' sound," Misfire tried to assure him, gun pointed at the pin-up poster now.

*Crack*

And one more shot exited, drilling through Rosanna's paper head. "Oh, damn. Okay, that won't happen a-"

*Thud*

A swift punch from Killshot sent him to the ground before he could attempt to reassure him again, knocking him to the ground. He could hear the door behind close gently as he prepared his lecture. "Okay, moron, listen up. These are my guns. They are my pride and joy and if you so much as touch them again, I will shoot you with every bullet until I'm out and then I'll shoot with all my lasers until I run out of energy. After that, I'll eject your remains out the airlock to a star where they will burn up and never be found again. You got that?" he asked him.

"Crystal," Misfire said, spitting out some of his energon to the floor. That was a good punch.

"So, with that settle, is there any other reason why you're in here? Aren't you suppose to be having a therapy appointment with Hook or something?" he asked.

"Yeah, but he's busy right now. He's dealing with Scavenger," he said, getting back up.

"So why did you come and bother me?" he asked.

"We're friends, right?" he asked.

"About as much as Decepticons can be," he replied.

"That's my point. Most would've stab me or at least do more than just punch me one time," he explained.

"Is that a invitation for more?" he asked, smashing his fists together.

"Nooooo, it's just a observation," Misfire said quickly, putting his hands up. "You're nicer than most 'Cons."

"Many would disagree with you on that point," Killshot informed him.

"Yeah, well look, I need someone to hang out on this ship and you're nicer than most I've met. I can't just hang around in my room, bumping drugs all day. So, can I hang out with you? We could talk about stuff like movies or- oh; I didn't shoot your TV. We could watch movies that I'm in! Imagine how awesome that be. I'll basically be a commentator telling you about all the things that happen behind the camera. Eh?" Misfire offered. Killshot gaved a giant groan before answering.

"Well, you didn't shoot the TV… alright, slagger," he agreed. The two look at each silently before a knock at the door got their attention. Killshot saunter over and open the door to see Skywarp there.

"Anyone wanted tell me why there's a bullet embedded in my door?"

XXX

"I've talked to Grindcore about the music. It has been lowered," Goliath told Corpsegrinder.

"Good. I was getting too many complaints about it," Corpsegrinder said, looking morose in his chair. He had his own room, although he didn't used it much. He preferred to be with his men instead of being by himself. He used it when he needed to dwell on something by himself and recharge. In this case, he was thinking about letting Flame on board…

"What are you think about?" Goliath asked.

"An old ally of mine. A Autobot scientist named Flame," Corpsegrinder told him.

"Well than, let him on board. The more, the better," Goliath suggested.

"Problem with that. Flame is a unrepentant psychopath. I'm talking crazy and psychopathic enough to make a lot of the 'Cons look like saints in comparison," Corpsegrinder told him.

"Than screw that bastard. He can survive by himself. We don't need people like him on our ship," Goliath said in disgust.

"Yeah, thing is, he was attack by some very familiar 'Cons." Corpsegrinder informed him.

"The 'Cons on Espera."

"Exactly. We're net letting him serve on the ship full-time. We're just using him temporarily against those 'Cons," Corpsegrinder told him.

"Alright, but if we're letting him on the ship, we need him well supervised," Goliath conceded.

"We can do that. I don't think we have to worry about him too much," Corpsegrinder said.

"Alright. I'll go check on the crew. Be back in a hour or two," he told him, head out the door and passing Scarhealer on the way out.

"Hey, Corpse," he said, before taking a seat in another chair.

"What's going on," he asked him.

"Ugh, I'm going to be talking about Devola with Equale," he told him. Corpsegrinder glared at him for that.

"I though we all agreed not to talk about that with the arcaedians on board," Corpsegrinder said slowly, wanting to emphasize the words he said.

"I know, but I had a bit of a breakdown over on Espera. I need to talk to someone about it and Equale is a trained medical professional. He will handle this with the upmost care," he said, trying to comfort him.

"I don't care. We don't need to bring up old memories. We just need to push on," Corpsegrinder ignored him.

"Where we're pushing to involves the past. I need to confront it if I want to be okay," Scarhealer said, not backing down. Corpsegrinder glared at him, thinking about this deeply. He didn't want to remember them, but he did have a point, unfortunately.

"Alright, but no talking abut to anybody else, understand?" he ordered him.

"Understand, sir," he said, getting up. "I'll tell you how it went tomorrow."

"Good. Take care," he told him. Scarhealer nodded before heading out of the room. Corpsegrinder still sat in his chair, thinking about Devola again. Oh, boy, what a bloodbath…


	41. Networking PT 2

Hook and Scavenger, currently in the Medbay, stared at each other. They both had to take about their relationship between each other. If they didn't, than it was going to get harder to talk about it. They made a bit of progress earlier on the station, now it was time to strike while the iron was hot. "So, how about those zombies, huh," Hook began, trying to get the conversation rolling. "Didn't think that could actually happen."

"Yeah," Scavenger replied timidly, scratching the back of his head nervously. He wasn't very good with conversation.

"So, let's talk about what happen between you and Swindle last night," he said, trying to get to the point. "Why exactly did you try to kill him?" He already knew why, but he needed to hear this from Scavenger.

"Um, well, because that one voice told me so," he said, getting more nervous. He always got this way when personal things were talk about.

"What voice?" he asked.

"Uh, the one in my head," Scavenger said plainly.

"Right, and does he have a name?" he asked.

"Um, yeah, but I don't like saying it," Scavenger said. He really didn't want to say who.

"Alright, and how long has he been a part of your life?"

"Uh, a bit before I met you," Scavenger replied.

"You've had this voice in your head that long without telling me?" Hook asked, anger lacing his voice.

"Uh, yeah," Scavenger replied, a little afraid.

"Didn't you think it might've been wise to tell me about this a lot earlier?" Hook advised harshly.

"I was, but than the war happen and we were too busy fighting to get me help," Scavenger justified, holding his hands out in defense. Hook gave him the death glare for a few seconds before relaxing a little but.

"Fine. Fair point, but you could've still told us before the war started," Hook blamed.

"I know, I know, but I was already treated as an outsider. I didn't want you guys to have more reasons to ostracize me," Scavenger explained quickly. "You were my only friends," he concluded, looking dejected. Hook softened his glare a little bit at that.

"I still think you're a friend," Hook tried to comfort him, but it sounded forced. A little too hesitant.

"No you're not. I'm just someone to satisfy you're ego," Scavenger said, turning into a petulant child again.

"Okay, maybe not, but I need you, dammit. You're the only one I want to work with. We've been partners for so long that I can't imagine working with someone else," Hook spilled his sparked out. Scavneger still looked unsure. "Look, let me say it right now. You are the best damn assistant someone can ask for and I wouldn't trade you in for anyone," Hook said, confidently and truthfully. Scavenger looked at him blankly before giving him a big smile.

"Thanks," he said, getting up and leaving the room.

"Wait, we're you going?" Hook asked, getting ready to followed him.

"To my room. You still need to have you lesson with Misfire and I'm taking too much time," Scavenger explained. "Probably best to leave on a happy note," he replied, heading out. "You might want to go check up on Misfire next. Last I check, you got an appointment," he said, the door automatically closing behind him.

* * *

"What are you doing?" Shockwave asked as he entered the bridge to see Swindle on the computer.

"Networking. I got a business to run, you know," Swindle said, checking up on his contacts."I'm also looking to see if any of them has seen out little member. Figure once we're done with Megatron's BS runs, we can actually do what we were order to do," he added.

"Got to maintain appearance that you're loyal to him," Shockwave said frankly.

"Hey now, I am loyal to Megatron, thank you very much. I'm loyal to all my customers," Swindle said.

"But you're more loyal to yourself," Shockwave said.

"Guilty as charge," Swindle agreed with a slight shrug of his shoulders. He was used to less-than-savory words.

"Why did you want me up here?" Shockwave asked, getting to the point.

"Ah, thanks for reminding me. My mind can wander off," Swindle said cheekily, in business mode.

"The point," Shockwave said, getting to the subject on hand.

"Yeah, a little before I got you're battered, charred, almost-dead corpse out of the base, I found this schematic for a medical capacitor, a really advanced one. I was going to build by myself in the privacy of my room, but than I got maul by a zombie," Swindle informed him.

"A truly tragic affair," Shockwave said. Swindle stared at him.

"Was that sarcasm… anyway, if you build me this, I'll give some of your files back," Swindle offered.

"Well now, that does seem like a fair deal," Shockwave muttered.

"It sure is, so what do you say," he asked him. Shockwave thought it over briefly before answering.

"I will build you the device," he agreed.

"Logical choice, partner," Swindle said, opening his chest and pulling out a memory unit. "Here you go," he said, handing it to him.

"I shall work on this immediately," Shockwave said, walking away.

"Don't strain yourself too much," Swindle said. "You want to be functioning enough to lead the crew on the news station," he told him. Shockwave paused in his step.

"Why?"

"Hey, I'm healing from my wounds and last I check, I promised to make you SIC if you went with me. Well now, my dear second-in-command, you will have to go in my steed as leader," Swindle told him.

"Very well," Shockwave agreed, "but I think you should pass second-in-command role over to Dead End. He is a extremely competent soldier and will have better battle strategies than me," Shockwave told him, trying to change Swindle's mind.

"Yeah, probably, but I really want to see you as leader of a team. I'm sure your obsession with making the logical course of action will help you tremendously in dealing with the mission," Swindle said, heading back to his screen.

"Well than, what can you tell me abut the station?" Shockwave asked him.

"The Retaliator," Swindle said, giving its name, "is a station where Megatron controls his propaganda. You know, the little thingies he has on the televisons and holovisions all the time," Swindle said.

"No."

"Let me guess, you don't watch TV. Good. Most things suck nowadays. Anyway, Megatron uses that as a way to help keep the old war machine going. A lot of us are stupid enough to believe everything he says on the damn thing is always true. Don't know why he exaggerates his claims. He is a super-hardcore BA, but he doesn't have to exaggerate his claims. Just going toe-to-toe with Optimus is enough to get these morons to follow you," Swindle ranted on.

"Agreed," Shockwave said, wanting to get the rest of the info.

"Anyway, it also doubles as a prison ship. It doesn't have that many, but it has a few, last I check. Mostly auxiliary soldiers that don't really mean much in the grand scheme of things," Swindle said. "Place is headed by one Dreadwing," Swindle mentioned.

"Dreadwing. Noble, honorable, and loyal to the cause. Not exactly who I want to run a prison," Shockwave murmured.

"He not my first choice, but he does keep order there," Swindle said. "Anyway, that's all you really need to know. Don't know why we're asked over there. It's probably just a mechanical malfunction. Wouldn't be the first time."

"Than why is he purposely trying to derail our mission?" Shockwave asked.

"Probably just payback for not telling him about the relic," Swindle said, before immediately shutting his mouth. He was not suppose to said that at loud.

"He knows about the relic?" Shockwave aksed.

"Yeah, and as punishment, he's making us go on a stupid errand and work with the monstrous DJD real quick," Swindle said.

"Payback has a way of reaching you," Shockwave muttered.

"Oh trust me, I still haven't forgotten about what you did to me," Swindle muttered.

"You had that coming," Shockwave said, walking away.

"I can't said that isn't true. I really did deserve that," Swindle muttered, rubbing his head nervously. "Go to recharge early. I don't want you taking a nap in the middle of the mission," Swindle ordered him.

"Understand," Shockwave said, letting the door letting him in while also letting in Dead End.

"Shockwave," Dead End quickly said as he passed by him. "Swindle," he addressed as he stood before him.

"What? I'm busy," Swindle told him.

"I have a request," he told him.

"What?" Swindle asked him.

"Could you attempt to set up a video conference with the station we're heading too?" he asked.

"I can try. No promises. Why?" he asked him.

"Wildrider's on the ship. I figure I could talk to him so he knows what to aspect," Dead End told him.

"Eh, alright. It'll take me a few cycles until I contact the ship. Got some loose ends to finish up here and then I'll contact him," Swindle told him. Take a seat and relax," he told him. Dead End obeyed, taking a seat by Swindle, waiting for him to be done. He also had to catch up on his poetry.


	42. Networking PT 3

Hook walked into the Science Lab, looking for Misfire. Unfortunately, all he found was Shockwave looing over something. "Hey, Shockwave. Do you know where Misfire is, by any chance?" he asked him.

"No, I don't, but I did hear gunfire from Killshot's room as I came back from the bridge. You might want to investigate," he told him.

"Alright," Hook asked, heading off to Killshot's room. Why exactly was that monoformer firing his gun in his room? Maybe he was killing Misfire with it? That brought a little smile to him. Misfire was a patient, but he was a severely annoying one. Hook has had more than one urge to solder that neurotic, haphephobic mess's mouth.

Maybe he could concentrate on Scavenger full time.

XXX

"So, do you feel lucky, glitch?" Misfire said to a down thug as he was reaching for his gun. The thug looked at the crazy flyer with a gun pointed at him. The odds were heavily stacked against his favor and it would probably be best if he just gave up. Reluctantly, the perp gave up and let Misfire arrest him.

Outside the screen, Misfire, Skywarp, and Killshot gave loud roars of approval. Misfire had convinced Killshot to watch the movie with him pretty easily while Skywarp was reluctant until he heard what movie it was. After that, he was pretty much the first one on the berth, ready for the movie. Misfire had quickly gotten the movie and the three began watching, with Killshot keeping a kill count, Misfire telling everyone about what happen the scenes, and Skywarp just watching everything with a smirk on his face.

"I believe 6 have died so far," Killshot told everyone on the center of the berth. They were only about a quarter through the movie and more were bound to die.

"You know, this was the first mainstream action movie to have a flyer as the lead in it? I'm a fraggin' trendsetter!" Misfire yelled out. He was to the right of Killshot and Skywarp, sitting a good distance away from them on the berth.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Be quiet. The interrogation scene is about to start!" Skywarp told them from their left. The trio became quiet at that, watching with amusement. About halfway through it, a knock came through the door.

"What is it?" Killshot muttered to himself as he got up to answer the door. He opened it, showing Hook. "Hey, Hook, what do you want?" Killshot asked, crossing his arms.

"My patient, Misfire," Hook said, looking behind him to see him watching the film.

"Oh, come on, Hook! Can this wait until tomorrow? I actually got people to watch movies with me!" Misfire complained to him.

"You mean you found people to watch those atrocious 'films,'" Hook said condescendingly.

"Yeah, I did, and I'm telling you right now that action films are not a waste of time!" he said.

"Why not? They're all just movies about stuff blowing up and cardboard acting," Hook ranted.

"Oh, quit being such a elitist," Skywarp yelled out. "Besides, this is a crime film, very different from a action film," Skywarp said.

"Yeah, whatever. Come on, Misfire. I told you we'd have a session today. Let's get it over with," Hook said.

"Can't we just count that little thing we did earlier as a session?" he asked, referencing the preparations earlier for Swindle's surgery.

"No, it doesn't, now come with me," he commanded.

"Oh, come on," Misfire whined over the screams the thug was doing as Misfire's character punched him in the face.

"Oh, for Primus's sake, quit complaining and come with me," Hook ordered him.

"No!" Misfire screamed like a petulant child, crossing his arms.

"Are you seriously doing this?" Hook complained, walking over to him.

"Just go! We'll do this tomorrow," Misfire told him, just as his character was getting reprimanded for attacking someone when he had already surrendered.

"You spoil, little brat," Hook growled out, reaching for him.

"Get away from me!" Misfire yelled out, lashing out with his leg and connecting with Hook's jaw, sending him stumbling back, grasping his jaw. That got everyone's attention as Skywarp got in-between the two and Killshot interlock his arms under Hook's shoulders and kept him from attacking Misfire.

"Oh, you're so dead when I get my hands on you," Hook screeched out.

"A little help here, Sky?" Killshot asked, trying his hardest to keep his grip on Hook, but it was failing.

"Let go of me, you damn monoformer. Someone needs to teach this little piece of scrap of lesson!" Hook shout shouted out. Skywarp got in front of him and helped Killshot push him out of the room. Once out, the two pushed Hook out and closed the door, locking him out. Hook responded quickly by getting back up and knocking on the door as loud as he can, trying to get in, but to no avail. Mad about how this turn out, Hook left the entrance to the room in a huff, promising himself he'll deal with this tomorrow.

Inside, everyone else settled down, trying to relax and finish the movie, although there was untold confessions that lingered in the room. "Alright, I can't take it! What's up between you and Hook?" Skywarp asked Misfire, glaring at him.

"Oh, um, nothing. Hook is just being Hook," Misfire said, dodging the question.

"Anything else?"

"Nope. Everything is okay. Seriously," he said.

"Did you really forget what just happen?" Skywarp asked him.

"I was hoping you did," Misfire muttered, scooting away from him. "See, earlier, I kinda got on to him about having Scavenger as his only assistant and he kinda like it and didn't like it. He really wanted another session today."

"Ok, so why didn't you go with him?" Killshot asked.

"Eh, dude's a aft."

"Agreed," the two of them said in tandem.

"Great, so can we get back to the flick?" The other two nodded in silent agreement and all optics went back to the film.

XXX

And so, two beings 

Collided bringing about 

The end of the world 

"Alright, I'm done with my stuff," Swindle said, attracting Dead End's attention. "Now, let's see if we can contact 'The Retaliator.'" Swindle pressed a few buttons, getting ready to contact them. "Might take a little while to contact them, but I think I can- Oh! I've reach them. Let's see what's up," Swindle said as the screen from the other side came alive, although it wasn't quite what he was expecting.

The bridge was a mess. Debris and bodies of drones was spread all around the room with energon all around the room. Most of the consoles looked trashed, unable to be working anytime soon. The only moving thing was the black-and-blue Dreadwing, who was checking a body to see if they were alive with one hand and holding his machine gun with the other. "Holy frag," Swindle muttered, drawing Dreadwing's attention. He looked up to the screen at Swindle and Dead End. "What happen?" Swindle asked.

"We were ambushed by… something. I'm not quite sure," Dreadwing said. "Something is on board the ship, killing everyone. We've been trying to find it, but it keeps avoiding and ambushing us. We haven't been able to kill the creature," Dreadwing informed him quickly. "We need reinforcement, quickly," he requested.

"We're coming. Just hold tight," Swindle told him.

"I'll try, but this thing has a habit of killing quickly and unexpectedly. The faster you get here, the better," Dreadwing told him.

"Quick question," Dead End interrupted the two. "How is Wildrider?"

"He got ambush by it earlier and the creature ripped his arm off, but he's still alive," Dreadwing informed him.

"That is bad," Dead End muttered to himself.

"We desperately need assistance, or at least a way off this station. The faster you get here, the more survivors there will be," Dreadwing told him

"Do you have any idea what it is?" Swindle asked.

"I don't know. All I know is that the creature is killing my crew and I have no idea where it is," Dreadwing told them. Suddenly, there was a small creak from behind him. Dreadwing took a quick look behind his shoulder before saying one last thing to Swindle. "Bring reinforcement, quickly," he repeated before the screen went to black.

"Damn," Swindle muttered, getting out of the chair and limping to the cockpit. "Looks like we're going to have to speed things up. Dead End, tell everyone that we'll reach the station in a megacycle and load up," he ordered.

"Understand," Dead End said quickly, heading out of the bridge. Swindle sat down in the pilot's seat and starting speeding up the ship.

Looks like sleep will come later.


	43. Responses PT 1

The moviegoers in Killshot's room felt the ship briefly shake a little bit, causing them to hold onto something for a moment. When it stopped, the three looked at each other. "What was that?" Skywarp asked the other two.

"That was the ship picking up speed, " Killshot explained, "which means Swindle's is in a hurry to make it to the broadcast station."

"I thought he said we wouldn't be there until tomorrow," Misfire complained.

"I guess something changed that's making him go faster," Killshot said, getting up from his berth. "Better go see why," he muttered, opening the door to see Dead End knocking on Skywarp's door. "What up?" he asked him. Dead End turned away from the door and quickly informed him.

"Swindle told me to inform you that we'll be at the space station in a megacycle and that you should load up quickly."

"Aw, really," Misfire moaned from behind Killshot. Dead End peered over Killshot's shoulder to see Misfire and Skywarp on Killshot's bed.

"Ah, good. Saves me some time," Dead End muttered before heading off to inform the rest.

"Wait," Killshot said quickly, causing Dead End to stop mid-pace and looked at him. "What happened?" he asked.

"We received a video feed from Dreadwing asking for immediate assistance. His crew was being hunted down by something and they have no idea what it is," Dead End quickly said, before walking out, leaving the others behind.

"Well now, this should be interesting," Misfire muttered, standing beside him now, along with Skywarp.

"What do you think is attacking Dreadwing?" Skywarp asked.

"I don't know, but we're probably going to have to kill it," Killshot replied.

"Which is going to suck," Misfire said.

"Very."

XXX

Hook grumbled to himself. Misfire being a whiny aft was expected, but after making progress with Scavenger, he expected to make some advances with Misfire. Instead, he blows him off to watch some stupid action flick with a couple of the crewmembers that he stared in ("how vain", he muttered as an afterthought). He really wanted to just barge in there and kicked that whiny, little slagplile's aft, but he knew that would just further strain the fragile relationship between the two.

A knock on the door draw his attention away from his thoughts as he shouted out "Come in, it's open!" He heard the door slid open but didn't pay any attention to it as he continues putting up his tools for the day. "What do you want? I'm about to end the day for myself," he asked.

"Well then, you're probably not going to like what I'm going to tell you," Dead End muttered. Hook paused at Dead End usual dreary tone.

"What?" he asked simply.

"Swindle wanted me to tell everyone we'll be at the broadcasting station in a megacycle," Dead End told him, waiting to see if he wanted anything else besides that.

"Ugh," Hook groaned. He really wanted to kill Swindle right now. First lying to him about that Thunderblast chick and then unexpectedly interrupting his chance to rest for the day with this? Honestly, he probably should've just stayed with Onslaught. "Alright, I'll go wake Scavenger and tell him about this. Exactly why did Swindle find it a good idea to ruin my chance at getting a good night's rest?" Hook asked Dead End. In response, Dead End reiterated what he told the moviegoers. "Oh, dear. Things are looking bleak there, uh?" he asked.

"Quite, now if you excuse me, I have to go tell Shockwave about this," Dead End said, bugging it out of there towards the Science Lab. He briefly catch Hook saying under his breath about killing Swindle, but didn't feel like commenting on it. A death threat to his superior officer was something he heard on a daily basis.

XXX

Shockwave looked through the schematics that Swindle had given him for the medical capacitor. It was a very advanced one and was going to require borrowing some parts from Swindle if he had them. According to the schematics, it would increase self-repairing protocols and capabilities over current ones by a pretty massive 75%. Shockwave had to begrudgingly admit that Swindle made a really good find with this. "Shockwave," Dead End greeted as he entered the room. Shockwave looked briefly away from the schematics before turning his attention back to them.

"What?," he asked emotionlessly.

"I came to informed you that we'll be at the attention in a megacycle." That got Shockwave's attention as he stared back at the commando.

"Why the sudden need to be there," Shockwave asked. Dead End explained again about the video. "That does prompt a response," Shockwave agreed.

"If I were you, I'd prep myself up as much as I can before we go there. This being is very dangerous," Dead End told him.

"Are there anything else that I should be informed about the mission?" Shockwave asked.

"No," Dead End answered quickly , heading out. Shockwave watched him go as he turned back to his work. He was going to be leading the mission, but that didn't worry him much. He's been under worse situations and a station being attack by some creature was nothing new. He just had to lead this time, which would be a bit of a new experience.

He had better go read up on some strategy tablets.

XXX

Dreadwing hurried through the hallway, moving swiftly through all the bodies of the vehicon. He had been looking for some medical supplies, but the creature was stalking him, forcing him to retreat back to where his men were hold up. Although he didn't get any supplies, he did get Swindle to come help. He could probably get here in time before anyone bled out.

Dreadwing reached the safe room and quickly knocked on the door while pointing his gun at the hallway, making sure nothing could get the jump on him. He heard the sound of movement behind him, which indicating the soldiers behind the door moving the objects they used as a barricade. The movement continue until the door opened up, showing a one-arm Wildrider behind it. The gray-and-red Stunticon looked haggard, but he still had that same demented smirk on his face. "What up?" he asked quickly, cheerily and not acting like he lost an arm less than a few megacycles ago.

"The creature stymied my attempt to get the medical supplies," he said, walking in and closing the door behind him. The two Cons' walked together as the vehicons went back to barricading the door against the creature.

"That sucks," Wildrider understated. Looks like we're going to find another way there. May I suggest-"

"No, we will not make an explosion to the medical center," he interrupted immediately.

"Oh, come on. I'm sure we can make it safe. A minimum causality of just five, I assure you," he argued.

"No, now shut it. Besides, I did get something done while I was out there," Dreadwing stated.

"What?" Wildrider asked.

"I managed to contact Swindle and he is bringing us reinforcements and maybe a way off this ship," he informed him.

"Oh, I like Swindle. He helps me make big explosions," Wildrider said gleefully, rubbing his fingers across his hands manically. It might've looked more menacing if he had both hath his hands.

"And you wonder why I'm afraid you might blow the ship up on accident," Dreadwing snarked beside him.

"Accidently? Oh, Dready, give me some more credit than that," Wildrider said, slightly insulted.

"Also," Dreadwing said, ignoring that previous comment, "Dead End is with Swindle."

"Old Doom and Gloom. I haven't checked up on him in a while," Wildrider chirped up.

"Well, from what I saw, he's doing fine," Dreadwing told him.

"That's cool. Hopefully doesn't get maul by this thing like I did. That would suck," he chuckled, showing off his stump.

"Yes, indeed. Anyway, we only have to hold the creature off about a megacycle until Swindle and his crew gets here. Until then, I'll help Spinster managed the medical supplies."

"Oh, yeah. That idiot could really use your help there," Wildrider said, heading back to the fortifications they made. Dreadwing headed off to the section of the area, but was stopped by an blue-and-gray Transformer with a bleeding wound in his chest.

"Hey," Nautilator said, getting in front of him. "Did you find any medical supplies?" he asked. Dreadwing had to mentally remind himself that he was talking to the Seacons and not to Megatron due to how similar there voices was.

"No, I didn't, and why hasn't Spinster healed you with our current supplies yet?" Dreadwing asked.

"The moronic savant thinks that a guy with a mesh-wound this big," he said, almost pinching his fingers to show how small it was, "was more dangerous and in need of life-saving treatment over this," he said, pointing out the hole in his chest.

"He has a very... skew sense of prioties," Dreadwing muttered.

"Well can you set those prioties right back on track? I don't wanna died because some moron though it was a good idea to treat a mesh-wound first over this gaping maw," Nautilator complained, heading over to the medical center to bitch and moan some more to Spinster. Dreadwing gave a mental groan to himself. He really wanted Swindle to get here now.


	44. Responses PT 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Review or comment if you can.

Half a megacycle latter, the crew was at the bridge of the ship, setting around and waiting for Swindle to get them to the station. Killshot was checking the pistol, making sure it wouldn't jam easily in a firefight and slightly nodding his head to whatever music he was listening too. Dead End was sitting silently, reading some more poetry. Misfire and Skywarp were talking about the movie ("It was awesome!" "Eh, it was okay."). Hook and Scavenger were talking quietly, with Hook giving some glares Misfire's way, who would dodge the best he can. Shockwave and Swindle were in the cockpit. Swindle was flying the ship while Shockwave was reading some files on tactics. "Why are you reading that?" Swindle asked, not looking away from the front.

"Trying to gain some tactics; with me being leader of this mission, I assumed it would be best to obtained some tactical advice from the book," Shockwave explained.

"Yeah? Well, I recommend you put that away," Swindle told him.

"Why?" Shockwave asked, suspicious.

"Because, judging from what I heard, we're not facing anything that's going to be shooting at you or anything like that. It'll probably try hunting you down one-by-one by picking off any stragglers, so just stay together and don't exit any of your men's sight range. Everyone has to see and know where each other is at all times. Splitting up is going to get you killed," Swindle told him.

"That sounds… logical," Shockwave agreed, putting away the tablet. "Exactly where did you learn that?"

"Where else but from Onslaught. We were once shot down in wild territory and Onslaught gave us a golden rule in that situation, 'never be by yourself.' We stuck together and shot anything that tried to flank us or drag us away from each other until back-up arrived," Swindle explained. "This is pretty much the same. Just a wild creature hunting and stalking you. Shouldn't be too difficult." Swindle reassured him.

"If that's true, than why is Dreadwing having such a hard time dealing with this?" Shockwave asked him.

"My guest, the creature probably got the element of surprise. Picked off the crew one-by-one until the rest of them started getting suspicious and looked for them. After they find the bodies, I imagine things went downhill and the crew started engaging in a lockdown technique in a certain area to prevent any stragglers from wondering off," Swindle informed him.

"A good hypothesis," Shockwave agreed.

"Yeah, anyway, don't get yourself killed when we reached it. Megatron is going to be really mad if I have to bring your corpse to him," Swindle told him.

"Duly noted," Shockwave agreed.

Meanwhile, Killshot was done checking his pistol and was relaxing in his seat, staring at everyone else's conversation. He didn't hear them (those headphones were made for moments like these where he didn't need to listen to the meandering BS of everybody's lives), but it was a bit humorous to judge their reaction to each other. Skywarp had the most bored expression on his face while Misfire had the exact opposite; it was full of excitement as Killshot guess he was talking about his movie. Scavenger was subdue as he was just shaking his head, moving his mouth every now and then for a one syllable word. Hook was obviously stressed, considering how vigorously he was moving and giving glares at Misfire now and then, but he otherwise the usual Hook. Swindle and Shockwave were chatting it up and Killshot could've mistaken a smile on Swindle's face every now and then while Shockwave was… Shockwave.

Dead End was just boring.

With his observation complete, Killshot just lean back, rest his feet on the table, and shuttered his optics, waiting to arrive on the ship.

This annoyed Hook.

He had a code of ethics. Do not disturb him while he is fixing up a patient, do not implied or say that he is wrong, and -most importantly-

Do not rest your damn feet on any table of any kind! 

Hook was this close to borrowing Scavenger's shovel and whacking Killshot's feet off the table, but he restrained himself. He was already having trouble with Misfire and he had no desire to get in any more trouble.

"So, anything else about the voice I should know?" Hook asked , leaning back in his chair and trying to stare at Scavenger.

"No," was Scavenger's curt replied.

At this point, Hook brought his hand up to cover his mouth and to restrain himself. That monoformer's feet were annoying him to no end. He had to get it off. He just had too!

"Are you sure?" he asked again.

"Yes," Scavenger replied, getting just a little bit tired of Hook's questioning.

Meanwhile, Hook was twitching in his seat. He couldn't help it. This was obviously the damn sniper's attempt to mock him. Him, just resting his fraking legs on the table and bobbing his head like he didn't even exist. This was an obvious declaration of war and he had to accept!

"Are you experiencing any other voices?" Hook asked, turning his head to Killshot's feet.

"No," Scavenger replied cautiously. He noticed Hook wasn't paying the best of attention to him anymore and turned his head to see why. There, nesting on the table, were Killshot's feet. Scavenger briefly wonder if the sniper had a death warrant, but let that out of his mind when Hook asked him another question.

"Can I borrow your shovel?" he asked, unaware that he went off-topic with the discussion.

"Uh," Scavenger froze. On the one hand, giving him the shovel would almost certainly bring conflict. On the other hand, it would be pretty funny… "Sure," he muttered, taking the shovel out and handing it to him.

"Thank you," Hook said, sincerely, before reaching out and smacking the blunt end of the shovel against Killshot's feet.

"Frag!" Killshot shouted as he jumped from the impact and accidently sending him and his seat to the ground. "Ow."

At that point, both Skywarp and Misfire were laughing their ass off as while both Shockwave and Swindle looked back to see what the commotion was about. Upon seeing this, Swindle gave a really nasty smirk.

Dead End didn't even acknowledge the spectacle.

"What. The Frag. Was that for!" Killshot asked, getting off the floor and glaring at Hook, who was smugly staring at him.

"He doesn't like people putting their feet on the table," Scavenger mumbled to him, keeping low and withholding the laughter that was about to belt out.

"Seriously? That's it?!" Killshot questioned loudly.

"Yes," Hook replied, handing the shovel back to its original owner. "Remember that for future reference."

"Oh, I'll remember that when I'm putting a bullet through your head," Killshot darkly replied, correcting his seat back to a upright position.

"Yeah, I'll remember that sentence when you need me to perform some surgery on you," Hook said, sitting back in his seat. Killshot replied by sitting back in his seat and flipping him off. "Real mature," Hook muttered, relaxing back in his seat.

Swindle noticed something else as well. "Killshot, where's the rifle that I gave you back on the previous station?" Swindle asked his employee. Killshot looked away and pretended not to hear him. It was moderately ineffective. "Killshot, don't make me ask a second time," Swindle warned him.

"Uh, what rifle are we talking about?" Killshot asked, bluffing very badly.

"The rifle you stole from me to use against the zombies," he specified, knowing he was playing dumb. He was already making notes to take money out of his next paycheck.

"Uh, I don't know exactly-"

"A zombie bit into it and broke it," Dead End answered, not wanting to stall the humiliation any longer.

"How do you know that?!" Killshot asked. Dead End ever so slightly nodded his head to Skywarp. "Oh come on, seriously?" he asked.

"You had it coming," Skywarp said, crossing his arms at him.

"I'm going to main you," Killshot threaten him.

"Oh, calm down. It only cost you… how much?" he asked Swindle.

"500 shanix," Swindle replied, glaring at Killshot.

"Oh, that actually cost a bit," Skywarp said, grinning at that.

"I will end you," Killshot growled out.

"Alright, calm down everybody. We don't want to kill each other just yet," Swindle told the room. Everyone silently looked at each other before going back to what they were doing before, although Killshot was giving a lot of glares at everybody. He others ignored him and carried on doing what they were doing.

XXX

"Excuse me, Spinster," Dreadwing said, trying to get the attention of the surgeon, Spinster. He was a helicopter with purple arms, teal legs, and a pink body. He currently had his mask up, covering the bottom part of his face. Right now, he was fixing the mesh wound of a trooper. It didn't look bad at all, which serve to tick off the blue 'Con behind him. Spinster looked at him, studying his form intensely before going back to work.

"Yes," he asked, about to get started closing the wound.

"Could you possibly fix Nautilator up first?" he asked, pointing behind him to Nautilator, who looked really ticked off. The little claws on his back for his alt. form was pinching itself together, showing that he he really wanted things to speed up.

"Why?" Spinster asked, about to start the welder.

"Because look at him." Spinster did and took him in carefully before he got back to the Vehicon.

"Looks okay to me," Spinster said, turning. This guy looks like he's in serious pain," Spinster said.

"See the problem I'm having," Nautilator said, the hole in his chest still bleeding. "I'll probably bleed out before he can actually help me."

"Nautiliator," Dreadwing begin again, really wanting to get this done as fast as he can, "would you please fix Nautilator first?" he asked. If not, than he started giving threats.

"Okay." Spinster said quickly, motioning for the Vehicon to get off the table.

"What?" Nautilator asked flatly, wondering how that had been so easy for Dreadwing. "Why are you doing what he said," he asked.

"He said please," Spnster answered, before motioning over for him to come. Nautilator to come over. He gave a quick curse before coming over to him. Dreadwing, satisfy with the outcome, headed out of the room.

Suddenly, an alarm sounded and Dreadwing felt his feet getting off the ground. "Warning:" an automated voice began, "artificial gravity offline. "


	45. Responses PT 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for hiatus. Hope everything is good now.

The crew, minus Swindle, was outside the door, checking their equipment one last time before they enter the Retaliator. Swindle was piloting the ship next to an access point of the station, which was near the bottom-left part of the station. The station was prism shape and the Merchant looked small compared to it, taking up about a tenth of it in size. A tube ejected out of Swindle’s tube and to the access point, creating a secure walkway between the two.

“It’s show time,” Misfire said excitedly, opening the door to the tunnel.

“Calm down. You might open a old wound if you keep it up,” Hook sardonically barked out, getting behind him. “Besides, you remember the rule while we’re here? Stick together.”

“Yeah, I remember, but this is still pretty exciting. It’s like that one monster movie-“cue groans “-I was in where-“

“Shut it,” Skywarp growled out, putting an hand to his head. “I had to hear you talk about movies for the most of the day and I don’t want to hear anymore about your exploits. Let’s just get this done so we can get to the bigger problem of the DJD.”

“Ugh, I’m already dreading it,” Killshot agreed. “I once saw them perform a demonstration on this one poor bastard. Guy got shredded than melted,” he told them, a grimace on his face. “Pretty effective motivational technique.”

“Shall we stop bickering on the future and concentrate on the present?” Shockwave asked them, stepping into the tube to the door of the station. The rest looked at each other before giving a shrugged and followed behind him. The tube was pretty wide so they all had plenty of room. The short walk went by without incidence and they arrived at the door. “Armaments ready,” Shockwave told them as he reached for the button to open the door. There was a small hiss and the door opened.

Shockwave looked through the entrance carefully, looking for anything that might be waiting. The room looked like a storage room of some sort with the containers spread everywhere. The room was trashed and there was a couple of bodies around. The first one looked like it had been ripped in half, vertically. The other had a big hole in his chest with most of his internal components missing, meaning the creature ripped them out of his chest. That was disturbing, but that wasn’t what got everyone’s about the room. It was the fact that everything that wasn’t bolted down was floating.

“Are you serious?” Killshot asked in dread. “More floating!”

“It appears so, yes," the one-eyed mech responded. 

“That’s going to make it harder to stick together,” Killshot said. “Last time we did this, we ran into a scrapyard of pirates.”

“Oh, I think I know what we should do,” Scavenger said, jumping into the room.

“Dammit, Scavenger! Don’t go in by yourself,” Hook scolded him before entering the room, trying his hardest to stay on the ground. The rest looked at each other before Killshot commented.

“Come on, Shockwave. Just because you don’t have those grav-boots doesn’t mean you shouldn’t just jump in,” Killshot said, before doing that himself.

“I refuse until we figure out a way to stay together,” Shockwave said.

“I got it,” Scavenger said, pulling out some cables and wires from a box.

“And just what are planning to do with those?” Skywarp asked, crossing his arms.

“We could form a belay system from these,” Scavenger said. The group looked at each other.

“That is a logical idea,” Shockwave agreed.

“Alright. This shouldn’t take anymore than a couple of minutes,” Scavenger said, getting to work

XXX

“What the frag?!” Wildrider asked as he got lifted off of his feet. Other people were saying similar things, not used to zero gravity. Wildrider, however, was the probably the least mad. This was pretty cool. This wasn’t his first time dealing with zero gravity and it was always fun to just dash into someone while doing. In fact, he was getting ready to do it when he notice something really bad.

The barricade was floating away from the door.

“Oh frag! Everyone, get to the barricade!” he yelled out. Everyone saw what the problem was too and hurried over to it to keep it secure. A vehicon managed to make it first and rushed pushing piece of the barrier back to the door. The rest followed suit, using their weight to keep it down. Wildrider was right on top of it, barely being able to hold it down with his one arm.

“What’s going on?” Dreadwing asked as he glided in.

“Gravity’s dislodged the barricade. We have to keep them down ourse-“ *BANG* “Frag! That creature trying to break in!” Dreadwing flew over and help reinforce the door against the creature. 

“We have to hold out until reinforcements get here!” Dreadwing said, pushing the barricade against the door as hard as he could. The banging persisted , getting closer and closer to breaching the room

“We’re fragged,” Wildrider murmured to himself. Dreadwing silently agreed with him as each hit laid its mark on the door, sending some objects and Vehicons scatter away from it and they rushed backed to hold the door. “Nice knowing you, Dreads,” Wildrider said to Dreadwing, knowing they were probably about to die right now.

“Same to you, Wildrider. I only wished I died for something more,” Dreadwing conceded. The two and the group of Vehicons held the door down as the attacks continue. The creature kept pushing in, more and more, until…

It stopped.

All of them wait in anticipation, wondering if it really did leave them. They waited five minutes. Ten minutes. Nothing. Dreadwing thought this over before backing up from the door a bit. “Everyone, stay here and barricade the door. I don’t know if it’s gone, but we can’t risk it. I’m going to see if I can contact Swindle another way.”

“You got it,” Wildrider said, sticking close to it. Dreadwing went back to the medical area of the ship to address to make sure everyone else was fine. He entered to see Nautilator strapped to the table with Spinster floating above him, fixing the hole.

“I see you solved your gravity problems,” Dreadwing stated.

“Yep,” Spinster agreed as he continued with his job, not even glancing at Dreadwing.

“Okay. I’m trying to find a way to contact Swindle that doesn’t involve going back out there. Do you know of any way I can do that?” he asked.

“Nope,” Spinster said.

“I think I spotted something in the storage closet,” Nautilator said. “It looked liked an- OUCH! Watch it!” he yelled at Spinster.

“Eh,” Spinster said, continuing unhindered.

“Anyway,” Nautilator grimaced, “I think it looked like one of those cheap, old-fashioned radios. Doesn’t have very many frequencies to choose from and a short range. If Swindle’s ship is outside those frequencies, you might not be able to pick him up,” Nautilator informed him.

“Thank you,” Dreadwing said, drifting to the closet.

“You’re welc-OW!” Spinster accidently poked his T-cog.

“Right…” Dreadwing murmured before opening the door. Inside, the places were floating, although Dreadwing could easily spot what he wanted. He grabbed the radio (which looked more like an oversized brick than a radio). He brought it over to a table nearby and try to balance himself with the table while working on it. First, check to see if it still works. Dreadwing gave the power button and the radio came to life with a screech of static. Dreadwing quickly turned it downed as Spinster made a dive under the table about them coming to get him, whatever that meant. Dreadwing ignore that as he began searching through the frequencies.  The search through the mazes of static was a very annoying one, as Dreadwing went and check through every single one of them, amidst screams of pain from Nautilator and Spinster constant rambling about them coming for him. It was a trifecta of annoyance. It kept doing it, constantly asking each wave of static if anybody was their until…

“Yes. Who is this?” Swindle asked, although there was a bit of static in his voice. Damn radio was in a very shaky state.

“It’s Dreadwing. How close are you to the ship?” he asked.

“We’re there right now. The group has already gone in the ship,” he informed him.

“That’s why it left us alone…” Dreadwing said ominously.

“Come again,” he asked.

“Tell your squad to be ready. It’s after them right now.”


	46. Gravity PT 1

"Alright, so we're going through a station that recently got tank by a creature of unknown look and origin with a destabilize gravity and all of us tie together. Fantastic," Killshot complained, right in the middle of the seven.

"Oh, come on. It isn't that bad," Misfire cheered from right behind him.

"You're optimism is foolish," Dead End responded from in front of Killshot.

"Nice to see we can agree on that," Killshot acknowledged.

"I hate to be on the side of the monoformer, but he's right," Hook replied from behind Misfire.

"Yeah, same here," Scavenger agreed, taking up the rear.

"Ugh, you guys are such killjoys," Misfire complained loudly.

"Nah, that's just Dead End," Skywarp jeered from in front of Dead End.

"Will all of you cease with the conversation and concentrate with the problem at hand," Shockwave ordered from in front of everybody. "We are after a deadly creature who has killed a major amount of the crew. We have to pay attention, or else we'll join them," Shockwave warned them.

"Yeah, yeah, point made," Killshot agreed. "Only problem is that the thing is nowhere near us."

"You aren't serious with that assessment, are you?" Hook admonished him. "Just because something is quiet doesn't mean it isn't nearby. You, of all people, should know that, with your job as an assassin."

"It also managed to kill a lot of the crew without being spotted," Dead End added. "Just because it's quiet doesn't mean it is not here."

"Hey, I snipe people, not stab them," Killshot shot back. "Having said that, I'm still pretty sure that's it is nowhere near us."

""Hey, everyone," Swindle said over the com. link. "I got bad news. According to Dreadwing, the creature is coming after you." Everyone stared at Killshot, who suddenly found the ceiling a incredibly interesting sight, silently cursing to himself.

"Affirmative. We shall ready ourselves. Any ideas on what should we do?" Shockwave answered.

"Where are you?"

"In a hallway, with no fragging idea where we're going," Skywarp answered.

"To make it worse, the creature has sabotage the gravity generator on the ship," Dead End said.

"In that case, I'd say you work on getting the gravity back online. Without it, moving through the ship will be a little more difficult for you," Swindle informed them.

"Where is it?"

"Hold on, give me a sec. I'll look up the ship's specs." The line remained silent while Swindle went to retrieve the data. Everyone looked around them, waiting to see if the creature would make an appearance. "Alright, I've looked at the map for your locations and the generator. You're on the same floor as it. You just got take the nearest right and head straight from there until you reach the door, which should lead you to the engineering area of the ship."

"Confirm. Moving now," Shockwave said, floating off to the area.

"Right, be careful. Megatron will probably have my head if you all die," Swindle told them before getting off. The group trudged off, paying more attention to their surroundings than usual. Knowing that the creature could ambush them at any moment was driving the paranoia sector of their CPU. The flickering of the lights, the sounds of the machinery, and the traces of energon on the wall got on their nerves, as well as make them remember past battles. Warfare wasn't just shooting blindly at the other side in the hope of getting a hit. Sometimes, you had to go through wastelands full of nothing in the hope of getting something to help the cause.

They usually didn't involve a creature hunting you down, though.

* * *

 

Swindle relaxed in his chair, trying to ignore the dull aches from his shoulders and his leg. He was really glad he didn't have to go out on what was likely a suicidal mission in his current state. It left him to wonder about the current state of things. Like why the frag was Megatron sending him to the DJD? It wasn't to kill him, was it? Was it a test to prove his loyalty? Swindle hoped it was that last one. It would explain why he's doing this as well.

Well, he did have a right to question Swindle's loyalty. Swindle had a habit of going after the highest profit instead of the cause. Still, he has never actually been against Megatron. He just sold some stuff on the side to other people, occasionally the Autobots. Hey, he was a businessman and he had to make sure he could provide for every customer. Didn't matter what side they were on.

_Crash!_

"What the frag was that?" Swindle muttered, surprised. There shouldn't be anything else on the ship except him. "Shockwave," he said to the comlink nervously, "did you leave anybody behind?"

"Negative," he answered.

"Alright, just wondering," Swindle said before getting off. Swindle stared at the bridge entrance, waiting for anything else to make a sound. When nothing else made a sound, Swindle wanted to just leave it alone, but that would be stupid. Something was in there and it would kill him if he ignored it.

Swindle got up, his leg a bit wobbly. That zombie was still giving him some problems. Swindle drew his Scatterblaster out and limped over to the door. It opened and he entered the hallway. Swindle looked for any sign that something was nearby, but nothing indicating a creature was around the area. Swindle didn't buy that as he began his sweep of the area. Swindle approach the nearest pair of doors and opened the right one. The door opened silently as Swindle gazed into one of his storage rooms. There were a lot of boxes laying around, holding some of Swindle's equipment, the most noteworthy being a rocket launcher near the back. A quick glance revealed nothing of interest and Swindle closed the door. Swindle turned and went to the other door…

_Crash!_

Swindle glanced down the hallway. That came from the next set of doors on the right. Swindle walked nervously over there, glancing at the other doors on the way over there, making sure was going to pop out and maul his aft. Swindle reached the door unharmed, although his bum leg was aching more now. Swindle placed his back to the wall as he reached to open the door. He listened for any sound to indicate if it was actually in their or it was just his mind messing with him, as it wouldn't be the first time that happen. You tend to hallucinate a bit after a death of a gestalt-mate.

_Crash!_

Yep. Definitely in there. Swindle check to make sure the safety was off, before opening the door. He quickly leapt into the room and pointed his gun at…

His kremzeek.

"You're kidding me. Didn't I leave you back in my room?" Swindle asked, relaxing. The kremzeek looked at him before going back to what it was doing: knocking Swindle's stuff over. "Hey, you know that cost money," Swindle reprimand his pet, holstering his gun and approaching the creature. "Let's get you back to my room," he said, motioning for the creature to get on his good shoulder. The creature refused, about to continue the destruction of the room. "I got batteries," he playfully said. That got the creature's attention as it turned around and smiled. "I knew that would get your attention," Swindle remarked, smiling. However, the kremzeek smile went away as it got a look of fear on its face. "What's wrong?" Swindle asked.

"Grrrr," something growled from behind Swindle.

 


	47. Gravity PT 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reviews appreciated.

They were at the door to the gravity generator, getting ready to enter. So far, all they had encountered was ominous noises, dead bodies, and a couple of shanix which Killshot took up. "Need to pay off that rifle," he mentioned offhandly. The group checked their guns, making sure they were ready for a fight, if need be. The group waited for Shockwave to make the first move and open the door. Shockwave silently wondered to himself what dangers could be on the other side of the door that could cause this much damage to the ship and crew. He could guess as much as he wants too, but the only way to get a definitive answer was to open the door and look inside. In order to do that, he had to push the button, letting them into the slagheap. Slowly, Shockwave lowered his hand to device to the button, about to open the door.

And that's when the power went out.

"What the frag?" Skywarp ask as they were bathed in darkness.

"Turn on the flashlights on your gun," Dead End said, turning his on and illuminating the hall to the group. Quickly, each group did the same, allowing them to see more clearly in the hall.

"Great, now I'll ask again: what the frag happen?" Skywarp asked the group.

"Whatever doing this must've sabotage the power generator to the ship," Misfire said. "Only reason why nothing electronic is working on the ship now."

"That is the most logical deduction," Shockwave agreed, thinking this through.

"Nerds," Killshot silently muttered to himself.

"If that's true, then we can't open the doors," Scavenger worried.

"That's nothing. We could just push them open," Hook pointed out. "However, getting the gravity to working condition is impossible without the power. We couldn't turn the damn things back on."

"Alright, so where's the power generator?" Killshot asked the group. "They wouldn't put the two generators together; too much risk if the enemy makes a lucky shot."

"I will contact Swindle on the bridge about this," Shockwave replied, contacting Swindle. "Swindle, we have run into an obstacle. We need to find a way to the power generator and turn them back on. Where are they?" Shockwave asked. He waited for a reply, but was met with only static. "Swindle, do you understand out request?" Shockwave asked again, but didn't hear a single thing on the other end. "Swindle is not answering," Shockwave informed the group.

"What? Why?" Killshot asked.

"That is not important. We need to find the power generator without Swindle's assistance," Shockwave informed them. "Any idea where they might be?"

"Well," Killshot began, "Swindle always kept them separate, but close enough to reach in an emergency. If the builders of this ship were smart, they would've done the same. So, we should check the surrounding rooms," Killshot said.

"Alright, then we'll check the immediately surrounding rooms and expand from there," Shockwave ordered, heading towards the nearest door with others close behind.

XXX

Swindle turned around immediately and saw something that looked like it came from a horror movie. It was a bipedal creature of both organic and mechanical origin. The flesh and metal were sloppily patched together, looking like they were just welded together instead of a seamless combination. The creature looked malnourish, due to the how decrepit the pieces of metal and flesh looked. The metal had lots of rust on it, while the flesh looked like it was about to rot off. Some of the places were bleeding lightly. Its limbs were thin and weak looking, but had talons at the end of each of them that looked like it could cut through flesh easily. It could maybe slice through metal even.

Those talons were currently rushing to rip his face off.

Swindle ducked and rolled away from the creature as it almost sliced his head off. Swindle quickly got his weapon back out and aimed for the creature, but it had already closed the distanced and was swiping for his face. Swindle quickly block his weapon, which the creature got his talons stuck in. It jerked forward suddenly, sending Swindle onto the floor, giving him a really nice view of all the teeth in his jaw. Swindle pushed backed as hard as he can, but it wasn't much considering they were still a bit loose. Swindle realized really quickly that he was screwed if he didn't come up with something real quickly, but there was nothing he could grab on to that could help him without exposing himself. There was nothing he could do…

The creature suddenly roared in pain as it got off Swindle. He was confused until he was what was on the creature's head: his kremzeek. The creature was currently giving the creature a shocking of a lifetime as it tried to shake the creature off him. Swindle took the distraction to check his weapon and found it broken, the fire mechanism being busted from the creature's talon. Swindle improvised, looking for something that could be used to eliminate the creature. There were a lot of options here, but he had to decide on one- Ah. That'll do.

The creature meanwhile was clawing and scraping at the being on top of his head that was frying him right now. Its limbs flailed desperately, unable to get a clean hit on the thing and knock it off. The creature was so concentrated on swiping the thing off his head that he didn't see Swindle approaching with something in his hands.

SCHRZZZ

The creature turned to the noise to see Swindle already swinging a buzzsaw at it. The creature had no time to react as Swindle connected with its body and ripped the creature in half with it, sending it screeching to the ground and spraying a purple mixture around the room. The kremzeek jumped off as the creature flailed around, trying to hit something. Swindle approach it carefully, the buzzsaw in his hand, giving a high pitch whirr. The being tried to reach him, but it had already lost a lot of fluids in his body. The most it could effectively do was growled at Swindle as it lay dying. "Shut up," Swindle growled out, as he brought the buzzsaw back down on its neck, slicing its head off.

Swindle observed the body, making sure it wasn't going to move anymore. When it became obvious that it wasn't going to get back up anymore, he turned the buzzsaw off and set it aside. He looked around the room and at himself, covered in the purple liquid from the creature. Swindle looked at it closely and noticed that it appeared to be a combination of blood and energon, making the combination between the two more symbiotic than before. It also means he's going to have tried even harder to wash this off him.

He felt a sudden shock of pain and looked down at himself. Now that the thrill of battle was over, he noticed that he didn't come out completely unscathed. The creature managed to get stabbed in the chest, near a critical fuel line and his T-cog. He was bleeding, but not as bad as it could be. He had to get Hook to fix him up, though.

The kremzeek was back on his shoulder, rubbing the side of his neck and making some noises. "Relax. I'm fine. You did a good job," Swindle complimented. He stood up, grabbed his broken gun, and headed towards the bridge to contact the group about the creature. They were going to need to know about the creature and how the frag it got on the ship in the first place.

That is, until he noticed the blood trail left by the creature. Swindle glanced at it before following it, looking to see where it came from. He followed it down hall all the way to the open area in the middle where the stairs and elevator were. The blood trails continue into the stairs. Swindle entered the stair area and followed it all the way to the bottom, where the cargo bay was. He entered the area and followed the blood trail through the room, looking for where it ended. He followed it until he reached a metal crate that was left out in the open.

The crate was ripped opened from the inside, indicating that it was where the creature stayed. That was quite a bit of blood around the area, meaning that the creature struggled for quite a while to get out of the crate. The crate didn't have any method of identification, so he had no way of figuring out where it came from. The crate was littered with scratch marks, showing that the creature was desperate. There was no food source, so Swindle was probably the first food source it's seen in a while.

Of course, the big question was this: How did it get on the ship and who put it there?


	48. Gravity PT 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I swear, updating all three of these by Christmas was a pain in the ass, but I got it done. Happy Holidays!

 

The group in the ship had temporally split up to cover more ground. The three in front took one end while the others took the other end, making sure their new smaller groups were still connected. The group of three was currently looking inside a door that held a couple more bodies, but nothing else.

"Where the frag is this thing?" Skywarp asked as they left the room and headed to the next one. "You think we would've found it by now."

"This area of the ship is pretty big. It makes sense we wouldn't find it quickly," Dead End explained as they opened the next door. "Besides, I think you can stop complaining," Dead End told him as the flashlight shined on the object they were searching for: the power generator. "This is it." It was a large piece of technology, taking up half of the room and placed at the center, leaving engineers to circle it to find places that need repairs.

"Shockwave to Killshot's group, we have found the generator."

" _Alright, heading to your position now_ ," Killshot answered. " _Have you encountered the monster yet?_ " he asked.

"Negative."

" _Right, neither have we. We'll be there in a few,"_ Killshot finished as he got off.

"Alright, let's see if we can figure out what went wrong with it," Dead End said as he observed it. "This might take awhile."

* * *

"Alright, the generator has been found," Killshot told his group. "Let's head on over to their position."

"Alright, sweet," Misfire said happily. "Let's get going."

"Yeah, whatever," he muttered, leading the group back down the way they came from. "Remember, optics up. Don't let that thing sneak up on us," he reminded them.

"Right, I won't let up," Hook said, glaring at Misfire's, who was absentmindedly glancing around without any care, "for I know that some people can't be trusted to get something done."

"Really?" Scavenger asked nervously.

"My glare is directed towards the front," he reminded him.

"Yay…," Killshot murmured, as the four of them continued to float on down the hallways. "I'm going to see if I can contact Swindle again. He can give us exact directions of he'll actually answer," he told them, attempting to contact him. "Hey Swindle, you there? We need a guide to rock on down to the power room." He was met by a silent and asked again, leaving the other three with each other.

"Right…," Misfire muttered, glancing around the area lazily, bouncing his light around the hallway. Before long, he started to hum to himself. Hook glared at him with an intense rage.

"Don't sleep," he whispered.

"Y-you alright, Hook?" Scavenger asked him.

"Just fine…."

"Ah, finally!" Killshot exclaimed, catching everyone's attention. "What took you so damn long?"

" _Something… unexpected happened. I'll inform you of it later,_ " Swindle answered him quickly. " _Now then, what do you need?_ "

"Shockwave, Dead End, and Skywarp found the power generator. We need to make our way over there," he informed him.

" _Wait, the power generator? What happen to getting the gravity back online?_ " Swindle questioned him.

"We were almost at the generator when the power went out," Killshot informed him, taking a right turn. "We split up to find the power generator and we had to split up to find it. Could you lead us there faster?"

" _Uh, let's see here,"_ Swindle muttered over the line as Killshot and the group took a left and arrived at the gravity generator door. " _Okay, where are you, exactly?"_

"We're at the door leading to the gravity generator," he told him.

" _Alright, go left of the power generator door than take the second right and the nearest left. You should reach it if you follow my directions to a T_ ," Swindle informed him.

"Okay, we're heading over there now. This way, morons!" he told them, on the move. "I can't wait to know why you didn't answered us earlier."

" _Yeah… be quick,_ " Swindle told him. " _We need to finish this off quickly._ "

"Understood. You should probably get in contact with Shockwave's group to make sure they got everything cover," he told him as he made the turn right.

" _Right. I'll contact them as soon as I'm off,_ " he stated him. " _Are we done?_ "

"Yeah, I guess…," Killshot paused along with rest of the group. "What. The. Frag?"

They couldn't see much of it, due to the poor lighting, but it looked like some twisted amalgamation of organic and machine, its muscles barely held together by wires and metal armor. It had a head, a body, a couple of arms, and… something for the lower body. They didn't know what, but it certainly wasn't legs, looking more like an incredibly deadly tail. The thing was looking at them, ready to pounce.

" _What's going on?_ " Swindle asked over the comm.

"FIRE!" Killshot shouted out. Everyone brought their guns up and fired at the same time as the creature jumped at them. Immediately, a bunch of purple liquid spilled out as the bullets went through the creature and instead of piercing any of them with its sharp claws, it stopped mid-air, leaving it floating in the air, the purple blood surrounding it. The four of them looked at the dead creature with a look of relief, catching their breath.

" _What happened?!_ " Swindle shouted, causing Killshot to flinch in pain at the sharp noise before answering.

"I think we found the… thing that has been killing the crew," he informed him.

" _What? Seriously?_ " he asked.

"Yeah. It was… anti-climactic," he replied, floating under the creature to get a good look with his flashlight, the other three watching from the sidelines. "Looks like… some combination of flesh-and-metal," he told him.

" _Come again?_ " Swindle asked him.

"Like a said, some creature made of flesh-and-metal," Killshot repeated. "Bulging muscles that looks marginally healthy, since it's not rusting, probably from munching on the crew, but the flesh is not so good. Looks like it's rotting a bit."

"… _I think we made an error in our previous assessment of the situation,_ " Swindle told him, sounding worried.

"Huh?" Killshot asked, paying attention to his words. "What do you mean?"

" _Don't you find killing that thing a bit too easy?_ " he questioned him.

"…Maybe?" Killshot said, not too sure.

" _Well then, it's obvious that by itself, it couldn't have killed most of the crew, but what if there multiple amounts?_ " Swindle asked him.

"…Slag," he murmured.

" _Get to the others and stay together,_ " Swindle warned him. " _Now, get going._ "

"On the move," Killshot told him as they got off and motioned for the other three to follow him under the dead creature.

"What was that about?" Misfire asked, getting under it.

""This… might not be the only one here," he murmured.

"Oh… OH!" he yelled, looking freaked out. "Hey, I didn't hit this slagger with any of my shots. What luck do you think we'll have against a bunch more of them?"

"It would probably be better if you didn't even try to shot them," Hook remarked, going under the creature.

"Why are we getting into even more trouble?" Scavenger complained as he stick close to Hook.

"Because we're just that lucky," Killshot sardonically said as they continued forward, guns at the ready.

* * *

"Shockwave, are you there?" Swindle asked into the radio.

" _Affirmative,_ " Shockwave told him over the comm unit as he began to explain their current situation. " _We are currently running a diagnosis on the power generator to figure out what exactly is wrong with it and repair it. How nice of you to finally answer us._ "

"Killshot's group has almost reached you," Swindle told him, ignoring his barb, "but that's not the main reason I'm contacting you. We believe that what we thought was just one monster is actually multiple amounts."

" _Really now?_ " Shockwave asked. " _How… interesting._ "

"We're not taking one for you to experiment on," Swindle immediately said.

" _I wouldn't dream of taking one alive-_ "

"Like you can even dream."

" _-but I would like to bring a dead one on board,_ " Shockwave told him.

"Trust me, you don't have to worry about that…." he told him.

" _Hmmm?_ " Shockwave hummed.

"How do you hum… anyway, fix the power and the gravity, and then kill every single one of those monsters. Got that?"

" _Understood._ "

"I should be able to answer all calls you have for the rest of this mission, so if you need help, call," Swindle told him.

" _Once again, understood._ "

"Huh-huh, later," Swindle said, getting off, noticing someone else trying to contact him. He quickly pressed it and answered. "What?"

" _Swindle? It seems like the longer you're on this ship, the worse thing gets. I'm lucky that this radio is wireless,_ " Dreadwing informed him.

"Heeeeeey… how you're doing?" Swindle asked.

" _I tried to call you as soon as the power went out, but you didn't answer. Why is that?_ " Dreadwing chastised.

"Uh, things. Anyway, Dreadwing, tell me you still got your place well-barricaded?" Swindle dodged the questioned as he talked to Dreadwing.

" _Yes, we do. We were thinking of headin out though,_ " Dreadwing told him.

"Do that and you're fragged," he told him.

" _Huh_?" Dreadwing asked.

"Yeah. I'm having a working hypothesis that says that there's more than one monster on the ship, so just stay inside until we're done," Swindle told him.

" _Oh… this is bad news,_ " Dreadwing muttered.

"Anything else?" Swindle asked.

" _Actually, yes. I want your men to find out how these things got on my ship in the first place,_ " Dreadwing asked of him.

"That… hmm," Swindle murmured. "Well, did you have any visitors recently?" Swindle asked.

" _Let me think,_ " Dreadwing muttered, breathing out over the comm. before replying. " _I remember someone came not too long ago. A fellow 'Con by the name of Gutcruncher, I think._ "

"Gutcruncher?" Swindle asked, leaning in in anticipation, his voice hitched.

" _Yes, I remember… him and his crew. I didn't pay them much attention, so they might've smuggled some of the creatures onto the ship,_ " he answered.

"Or… someone could've bought it off him," Swindle offered his suggestion.

" _Either way, I think he's the only one who could've brought those things on here, whether through his own will or one of my own's will. He is the catalyst for the event,_ " Dreadwing told him.

"I'll inform my men to look for any documents that described a transaction between Gutcruncher and one of your men," he told him.

" _You have my gratitude, Swindle,_ " Dreadwing thanked him, before he muttered something quietly. " _Please save me from these morons…._ " Was the last thing he said before he got off the radio, leaving Swindle to silently sympathize with him.


	49. Sole Survivor PT 1

" _Alright guys, how're repairs going?_ " Swindle asked Shockwave in the middle of directing repairs.

"I thought we would only talk when I want to talk to you," Shockwave remarked to him.

" _Well, I would like this to be over as soon as possible and wanna know how it's going,_ " he explained himself.

"Well, if you want to know, we've diagnosed the problem. It seemed that the creatures slashed at some of the important components and we need to weld and replace the parts," he told him.

" _And how do you plan on doing that?_ " Swindle questioned his ability.

"Hook has a soldering gun for surgery that we can use and some of the corpses here can provide us with parts to replace the broken ones with some improvisation," he explained his plan.

" _That's… actually a pretty solid plan. Nice job. You're really taking the role of second-in-command very well,_ " Swindle remarked.

"I adapt."

" _Can't wait to see you evolve,_ " he murmured before saying. " _Anyway, aside from the repairs, I need you to fine anything about transactions here between the crew and Gutcruncher. I heard that he was probably the one who brought this on board. Keep me updated on that and the repairs. Happy hunting_." Swindle signed off, leaving Shockwave with the group.

"Very well," he murmured, before addressing the group. "How are the repairs going?"

"Fine, I guess," Killshot said as he was directing Hook with the insides of the generator, who was grumbling under his breath about that particular fact. "Hook here is pretty good with that welding whatever."

"It's a soldering gun, you moron," Hook insulted him. "If you actually had a T-cog, you might be able to have one."

"Nah. I prefer to wield things with my actual hand," he shook him off. "Just keep fixing this machine."

"It's called a power generator. I know you know what it is, so stop being purposefully vague to tick me off," he continued to bicker with him.

"Got a problem with a lack of details?" he continued to pick on him with a wicked grin.

"Yes and I've got good reasons too."

"And what are those reasons?"

"Personal reasons!"

"Oh, hypocrite. Thy name is Hook."

"I have reasons you inconsiderate frag-off." And the two kept arguing on.

"Right, I see everything is fine here," Shockwave murmured before heading to the console where Misfire and Scavenger were both working on a console with Dead End directing the two of them. "All goes well?"

"Acceptable," Dead End told him as he watched over the two. "The corpses provide suitable replacement parts for us to use."

"Getting those off the corpses was disgusting," Misfire said, sounding disgusted.

"You get used to it," Scavenger reassured him.

"You've done it before? _Ewwww_ ," Misfire groaned in disgust. "I would never do stuff like that."

"As Killshot showed me earlier, it's best to leave your morals at the door on this trip," Dead End told him.

"Did you missed the implication that this was far from this guy's first time?" he reminded him.

"Hook and other people need spare parts for repairs and other stuff, so I get them from the bodies for them. Nobody is better at it than me," he told hm.

"Probably because nobody else is doing it," he remarked.

"No, there's a lot of people who do it. It's not that uncommon," Dead End told him.

"He's right. We have to reuse the dead somehow," Scavenger told him. "Just because you're dead doesn't mean you're no longer useful."

"Great… remind me not to die during this war," Misfire told them.

"So, to reiterate, is everything going well?" Shockwave question them.

"Yes, quite well. It should take us about 15 cycles," Dead End told him.

"Very well. Thank you," Shockwave told him, walking away to the last person he hasn't talk too. Skywarp was leaning against the wall, watching the room with a look of suspicion. "And what are you achieving?"

"I'm keeping watch, making sure nothing gets in while we're doing the repairs," Skywarp told him. "Also, I'm not very brainy, as you know. Me helping out with the repairs would just end with me breaking it further."

"Hmm… very well," Shockwave acknowledged "Obviously you got nothing else for me."

"Well, you might be wrong," Skywarp told him, holding up a datapad. "Found this in a desk drawer."

"And what does it hold?" Shockwave inquired.

"A business transaction between Gutcruncher and one of the poor slaggers that died here. It was just some parts for the generator here they had to replace before it broke," Skywarp told him.

"Really now?" Shockwave asked, sounding interested. "Swindle just told me to look out for items like this."

"He did?" Skywarp asked with a raised eyebrow. "I just found this and thought Swindle would like any info on the competition. Is there any reason in particular he wants stuff about him?"

"He could be the one who brought the creature on board through a customer transaction," the scientist informed him.

"Wait, seriously? We're going through all of this trouble because of him? Ugh, I wished we killed him before we came here," the seeker wished.

"That's what we need to figure out," Shockwave told him. "If we want to justifiably kill him, we will need evidence."

"Oh come on, really. People in the Decepticons kill each other all the time for no reason, why do we need one?" Skywarp questioned him.

"Because we need to not waste our time doing every little whim we come across and kill the ones who killed Thundercracker, or did you forget that?" Shockwave let off a barbed, causing Skywarp to flinch and glare at him.

"I know that, you one-optic pit-spawn, but this guy left a mess here for us to clean up and we might have to fix more of his messes on our way to Thundercracker's killer and we have no time for that. I say its best just to kill him before he causes us any more trouble," Skywarp defended himself with a (surprising to Shockwave) well-reasoned argument.

"Well, I guess you make a logical point," Shockwave acknowledged. "To go along with that, we haven't found any relevant information about the man who killed Thundercracker."

"Exactly. Don't get me wrong, I want the guy dead, but I know when to be patient. We got no information about the fragger who did this, so we can't chase him until Swindle gets the information we need. That's why I got this in the first place. I figure it would encourage him to hurry up and find this guy already," the seeker told Shockwave, fist clench.

"Understood," Shockwave noted. "If you find any datapads on Gutcruncher, be sure to give them to me and I'll make sure Swindle's search of the one behind Thundercracker's death is sped up."

"Huh, you got a deal," Skywarp agreed, getting off the wall and going back to searching the other desks. "I'll look around this place and any other rooms we go to."

"Good."

* * *

"Is everything okay here?" Dreadwing asked Wildrider as he reemerged from the medical room with Spinster. Nautilator was hanging back in the room to heal and so he won't move much and reopen the wound.

"Yeah, we're good," Wildrider told him as him and the rest of the Vehicons kept the barricade up. "So, final word. Staying or going?"

"Staying," Dreadwing announced. "We might've been wrong on the amount of creatures on the ship."

"The amount?"

"Might be more than one evil monster," Spinster told him simply.

"Oh… really?" Wildrider asked.

"Yes, he speaks the truth," Dreadwing confirmed.

"Ah… niiiice," Wildrider say with a wicked smile.

"That's not something I wanted to hear," he remarked.

"What?" he asked.

"He's not all there, is he?" Spinster remarked.

"Neither are you," Wildrider remarked.

"But, I'm not missing an arm…," Spinster wondered, looking himself over to make sure he wasn't missing anything. Wildrider looked at him with a raised eyebrow before turning to Dreadwing.

"Why is he our surgeon again?" Wildrider asked.

"We hired him for his hands, not his brains," Dreadwing replied, which got a nod of understanding from Wildrider. "Now then, does anybody have any problems with staying here?" Wildrider lift his single hand up. "Aside from feeling impatient." And it was down again. "Alright then, I want us to continue to hold the barricade and investigate this area for any breaching points the creatures might use." Everyone gave a nod before heading back to what they were originally doing.

Except for Spinster, who was still checking himself for anything missing. Dreadwing briefly consider giving him a slap on the back of the head, but ignore that feeling as he was _civil_ and would probably damage Spinster's already minimal mental capabilities. Instead, he just simply laid a hand on his shoulders and shook it roughly. "Huuuuh?" Spinster moaned, looking at him blankly. "Did something happen?"

"It's… nothing," Dreadwing replied, depressed. "Just go watch Nautilator and make sure his wounds don't reopen."

"Fine. Sounds good," Spinster agreed, heading back to the room, with Dreadwing glaring at the back of his head as he disappeared in the 'medical' room. With the discussion complete, Dreadwing watched everyone else, making sure everything was done correctly.

* * *

" _Where is everybody else?" Scarhealer asked a retreating yellow Cybertronian as he emerged from a building._

" _Dead! They're executing everyone!" he shouted out, stopping in front of him._

" _W-what?!" he asked. Suddenly, the Cybertronain grabbed him by the shoulders and began ranting manically._

" _We need to find Corpsegrinder and Metalhawk and get out of here. They're coming, and going to kill-"_

_BANG!_

_A shot rang out from a distance and energon splattered all over Scarhealer as a bullet ripped into the cybertronian and he collapsed to the ground. The medic leapt back from shock into the building as another shot rang out, barely missing him. Realizing that his life had a good chance of ending soon, he quickly closed the door as another shot rang out and grazed his arm. He quickly retreated to the backroom where a small group of doctors and patients were. "We heard gunshots. What happen?" said the closest doctor._

" _Decepticons inbound! We need to get everyone out of here," he told them._

" _Where's everyone else?" said another._

" _Dead! Let's go, we have to go to the main base where Corpsegrinder and Metalhawk are," he told them._

" _But, the injured are unable to make the trip," the first doctor said._

" _You're going to make it happen. Hurry! I'll check out back to make sure it's clear," he told them, streaking past them to the door that led outside. He stepped outside onto the grassy area and looked around the shadowy. A large amount of buildings were in front of him and nothing else. "It looks clear. Hurry up!" he yelled turning back to the building._

" _We aren't prepare for this!" a voice rang out from inside._

" _Hurry up! We're running out of time!"_

_Click._

" _Actually, you're already  out of time," a voice rang out from behind him and he felt the barrel of a gun against the back of his head. Scarhealer went stiff at the unexpected encounter. He could hear the grass being crushed underfoot as the enemy shirted his position until he was standing in front of him. Scarhealer gazed into the yellow optics of Deadlock, who had a smile on his face. "Well, looks like you're in a pile of slag."_

" _What are you going to do to us?" Scarhealer asked, getting to the point._

" _You know, I've been thinking about it, and I must say, you're the lucky one. I might let you get a head start," he informed him in a mocking tone._

" _W-what?" Scarhealer asked, surprised._

" _Here's the deal. The people in the building are going to die no matter what you do, it's not a question. The main thing is, how long it is going to take. You can stay, and I'll just put a bullet through each of you're spark. However, if you take my offer and accept the head start, it'll last for as long as we can torture them," he told him. Scarhealer shook as he heard what he said, not wanting to believe it._

" _P-please, let m-me take-"_

" _No, now choose. Stay or leave. You have a cycle to decide," he rebuked. Scarhealer couldn't help but shake as the words settle in and he felt his spark fluctuating violently. "He couldn't make this sadistic choice. His self-preservation instinct wanted him to accept the deal and leave, but he knew that the Decepticons would be absolutely brutal to his friends. Then again, the Decepticons like to lie, so he could lose no matter what he did…_

" _Scar, is everything alright out there?" the doctor asked from inside the building. Scarhealer glanced behind Deadlock into the building where the sounds of them futilely rushing to get the patients ready to go. Scarhealer knew he probably couldn't live with what he wanted to do, but someone had to live._

" _I'm so sorry," Scarhealer barely muttered as he suddenly turned on his heel and started running towards the buildings._

* * *

"I just… kept running until I had made it to the base," Scarhealer told Equale in the latter's room. "It took me a week surviving off the barest materials, but I finally made it, and I didn't see a single Decepticon on the way there. They must've been… busy."

"That's… harsh," Equale remarked. "Did you ever figure out what happen to them?"

"Exactly as Deadlock told me what would happen. They took their time with them. I never saw the bodies, but we heard them talking about it on their comms, a couple of them laughing about it. Said that they kept it up for so long…," he trailed off, not paying much attention to anything. Equale gazed at him before he started shaking him.

"Hey, calm down," Equale told them, grasping his wrist. "You had to make a hard choice, but you had to pick the one that left someone alive. I know that you're not proud of what you did, but their suffering enable you to be here right now."

"Yeah, here I am, defected from the Autobots and serving as a medic for a bunch of pirates. It was worth their suffering to get me in this position," Scarhealer lamented. "I'm a terrible person."

"Well… that's… what happen at the base after you got there. There has to be more to your story than that," he asked him.

"…"

"Scar…."

"I think… I'm done talking for now," the cybertronian medic said, getting up and heading for the door. "I'm sorry for bothering you with this pointless stuff."

"Hey, wait," Equale said, getting up.

"If you want to know more, talk to Corpsegrinder or Grindcore. They know more than anyone else," he hastily said right as he exited the room, leaving him alone. Equale looked at where Scarhealer once was, sympathizing with him, but he was confused by something. It made sense to ask Corpsegrinder for more information, but Grindcore was just a mechanic. What did he know more than anyone else?

* * *

"Well, looks like Grindcore made good on his word," Cooldown noticed as the pirates' ship came into view. "Good to see we can count on him."

"So… pirates? How do you know them?" Bombline questioned next to him in the cockpit.

"Eh, I knew Grindcore before the war and we've been keeping contact with each other the whole time. He's a good guy, once you get past his questionable music choices," he replied.

"It really sucks," Warmup said from behind them, checking a rifle.

"Okay, so do you know anything else about this group?" Bombline questioned him.

"All I know is that it's a hybrid pirate ship, featuring Cybertronian and Arcaedian members," he told him.

"Arcaedion is the place with the planetary civil war going on, right?"

"Correct. It's pretty messy, but it doesn't involve us. They're smart enough to keep it to their planet, unlike us," he told them.

"How smart of them," he muttered, angered.

"Hey, relax, not our fault that the Autobots and Decepticons screwed Cybertron over," Warmup told him.

"I know. It's just… dammit!" he yelled while smashing his fist on the window, thankfully holding fast.

"Wow… okay," Warmup murmured, looking away.

"Perhaps… we should just relax and until we're on the pirate's ship," Cooldown told him.

"Yeah," Bombline said as he rested in his chair glumly, "I guess you're right." The three of them stayed in an awkward silence as they waited to get on the ship.


	50. Sole Survivor PT 2

 

"Come on, hurry up," Swindle murmured, tapping his fingers on the console at a quick and steady pace. He really wanted to get out of here as quick as possible, the more he was afraid that something on the ship would sneak in and tried to kill him. If there was one thing Swindle didn't like, it was putting his life on the line for someone else and helping without getting paid. Megatron wanted him to do both, _twice._ At least with the bomber, Swindle had a personal stake in making sure he died. This was just some 'favor' that Megatron wanted done. There was nothing to gain in all of this except for some brownie points.

Beep! Beep!

The sudden noise of a message coming in brought him out of his sulking as he looked to see what it was. It appeared to be a message. He went into messages and looked at the heading of the newest one.

_Info on the slagger who killed Thundercracker_

_From: Starscream_

Swindle's optics brighten in surprised at reading that. He didn't think he would be able to help with Megatron breathing down his neck, but it looked like he squirmed his way to give this message. Swindle clicked on it and looked at what Starscream had sent.

_I heard the one who killed him was a seeker, so I look at some of my old pre-war files and found someone who matched the description that's been leaking out from your ship. I knew every seeker back in the pre-war days and I think the person that you need to kill is a bomber named Bombline. He was a noted trapper and was proficient with a sniper rifle. He even has the black-and-red paint job you're looking for. He took a ship off planet before the war like a strutless, unambitious coward and I haven't heard from him since. If he's the one who killed Thundercracker, make him suffer._

_Addendum: Bombline's file is attached to these message. Take a gander of the mech you will kill so you don't make any slip-ups when you see him._

The message ended right there. Swindle was impressed by Starscream's tenacity to helping kill the guy who killed Thundercracker. Swindle quickly opened up the attached file and looked at it. There was a write-up about the bomber as well as a picture. Swindle noticed that the mech did looked a lot like the one who was in the security footage. Looked like Starscream might not be off about his info. He just needed collaborative info to make sure.

Swindle quickly got an idea and sent the file to all of his known contacts. He knew that one of them had to have info about this guy and he just had to wait for it. Until then, he might as well complete those favors for Megatron.

* * *

"Alright, good job Hook," Killshot complimented. "You fixed that power generator really well."

"Well, I am what you may call a renaissance mech. Engineering, doctoring, I do it all," Hook remarked with just a tinge of arrogance.

"Alright, quit bragging before you fill my aggro-bar up all the way," he shot him down. "I could've done it if we had the necessary tools with us."

"Ah, but if you had a T-cog, you will always have it with you. I don't see why you would want to keep hindering yourself by actively refusing to have one," he pointed out.

"I have my reasons."

"What reasons?"

"Personal ones."

"Didn't you give me slag for saying that to you?" Hook asked him, pointing out his hypocrisy.

"Yeah, but the difference is that my reasons are actually personal," he defended himself, causing Hook to give a scowl.

"You know so little about me. What makes you thing I couldn't have personal reasons for not divulging information to you," Hook said, pointing his finger in his face. He was getting noticeably angered at the sniper's remarks.

"Because," he replied, grabbing his hand and pushing it down, "you're too much of an arrogant prick to have sentimental emotions. I highly doubt you know what personal tragedy is, you fragging-"

"Would you shut up?!" Hook shouted, pushing his back up against the generator and placing a blade at his throat. "Why do you keep making such obscene blanket statements about a person you hardly know? I did things and I certainly cause things that I regret. It may not be as high as a normal person, but who cares?" he ranted down his throat. Killshot noted the sorrow that was barely noticeable in his anger and the uncaring looks everybody except Scavenger was giving, who had his hands on the side of his head in fear. "So what if I can kill without feeling a regret. That's just war. I still have them. It's one anyone would have."

"Look, I might've been a bit cruel to you," Killlshot interrupted him, "but could you take this knife off my throat?"

"Why? Because Swindle will be mad at me?"

"No."

Click!

Hook looked down at the pistol that was hovering his chest, aimed right at his spark. "Because if you slash, I shoot." Hook looked back up at the stern face of Killshot before withdrawing his blade, floating away from him.

"Sorry. I, eh… lost my cool," he murmured apologetically. "That doesn't happen often."

"Just don't do that again," he harshly said, staring at everyone. "So, you got the rest fixed or what?"

"Uh, just hold on," Scavenger said, ducking down behind the control panel before reemerging. "Yeah, we should be good to go."

"Well, let us see if it works," Shockwave implored him. Scavenger nervously twiddled with his fingers for a second before doing as he was told, pushing a button. At that, the generator rumbled and the lights went back to full power, bathing the room in it.

"Finally, I can see in front of me," Misfire said happily, looking around the room that had energon splatter all over the walls and corpses they picked off before frowning. "Oh yeah, I forgot. We're in a massacred space station with a bunch of monsters."

"How astute of you," Shockwave noted before addressing the whole group. "We need to make our way to the gravity generator."

"I'm guessing we all know where it is?" Dead End asked. "Then let's connect together and be on our way. Anyone want to switch their position?"

"If you don't mind, I would like to trade places with you. Considering the fact that the creatures will probably be on full alert now, it's best to have your experiences hands up front," Shockwave requested.

"Very well. I'll lead and you take my place in front of Killshot."

"Now it's going to be really hard to see in front of me," Misfire mocked, gesturing his hands to indicate how big Shockwave was.

"Then look behind you. That shouldn't be too hard," Shockwave responded with what looked like a glare. Misfire put his hands up in a defensive posture and started chuckling nervously.

"You're right. Somebody gotta watch the rear," he agreed, not wanting to get on his bad side.

"Right, let's connect to each other and get moving," Dead End said.

* * *

"Welcome aboard," Grindcore greeted the three new passengers with a small smile as they exited their ship into the hanger. One could see a small, black earpiece on the right side of his head. "Try not to cause a commotion."

"My, you're paranoid," Cooldown chuckled with a smile, hearing the typical evil-sounding music from his earpiece.

"I just got done fixing a TV from a fight. You forgive me for not wanting to bother with stuff as inane as that," he responded.

"What is going on?" the deep voice of Corpsegrinder asked from behind him, causing him to turn around.

"These are the guys I told you we be picking up, remember? Goliath was supposed to have told you." His captain gave him a blank stare. "That moron forgot to tell you, didn't he?"

"Yes, he neglected to mention this…"

"Oh, well,-"

"But if I was to refuse them transportation, I would come off as a hypocrite considering I'm letting someone on the ship as well," Corpsegrinder murmured, looking them over. "They look like they will cause less trouble as well."

"We're mercenaries. We were about to get started with a job when our ship broke down," Bombline mentioned.

"Alright, we can get you back to Talos Four to fix you're ship and pick up my ally," he told them. "Now, my name is Corpsegrinder. What are yours?"

"Name's Bombline. I'm the leader," he told them.

"Cooldown. I'm the head pilot and friend of Grindcore," Cooldown told him.

"Warmup. Weapons expert and life of the trio," he replied happily, nudging his two allies by the side, causing both of them to glare at him. "What?"

"Well, good to know," Corpsegrinder said, bored. "What's your job?"

"We're chasing this guy named Swindle and have to bring back to Talos Four," Bombline told him.

"Isn't he a black marketer?" Grindcore asked.

"Yeah," Bombline told him with a shrug.

"Woah, new guys," Zyglrox muttered, coming up from behind Corpsegrinder large form. "Who are you guys?"

"They are Bombline, Cooldown, and Warmup," Corpsegrinder pointed at each of them as he said there name. "They're mercs."

"Ah, so we're hiring them?" he asked.

"We're just giving them a ride," he told him. "After that, they'll leave and go after their target."

"Who is that?"

"Swindle and his ship, 'The Merchant,'" Bombline answered.

"Alright, have a good time," he said, turning around and taking several steps forward before pausing in his step and realizing something. He turned back around and asked them a question. "Did you say Swindle and his ship 'The Merchant?'" he asked for confirmation.

"Yeah. What of it?"

"Captain, the ship who attacked us… it was called 'The Merchant,'" Zyglrox told him. "The cameras spotted the name on the underside of the ship."

"Are you kidding me?" Corpsegrinder asked bluntly.

"Not a chance. I just got done checking them after Equale applied this burn cream and I remember hearing them speaking in the cameras about Swindle," he told him. "It's very likely that the one they are looking for is the one who attacked us."

"What a small universe," Bombline murmured. "What are the chances?"

"Doesn't matter," Corpsegrinder said, glaring down at the three of them. "You want to help us kill them?"

"Just make sure we capture Swindle alive."

* * *

_Talos Four, City 17, Sky Blue Center, Warrior Airfield_

"Alright, we're docked," Flame said with relief. "Took us long enough."

"Yeah…" Chromedome murmured.

"Hey, remember: leave Rewind in that closet. I don't think the public would appreciate his current condition," he ordered him.

"I know," Chromedome sighed, getting up.

"Right now, we don't need to bring anything with us, just a place to stay while we're waiting for Corpsegrinder to get here," the scientist told him, pressing the button to let them out. The door opened, letting in a blinding light, causing Chromedome to cover his optics.

"It's so bright! I need to adjust my optics really quick," he told him.

"Well, the planet has two stars acting as suns, with an average of 22 megacycles of sunlight and six megacycles of night," Flame informed him, taking steps down the ship.

"Right," the mnemosurgeon murmured, knocking his hand on the wall of the ship. "We'll be back later, Rewind! Take care until then." No one responded as Chromedome quickly went down the ship, following Flame. "Any idea where we're going?"

"Head to the airport and head to the nearest hotel called Liberation. After that, we wait until we get a call from Corpsegrinder. Simple as that," he explained.

"Okay, I guess that's a good plan," Chromedome agreed.

"Of course it is. This part is easy. Doing what Corpsegrinder asked? Now that's hard."

* * *

"Alright, here we are. None the worse for wear," Killshot said as they finally reached the gravity room's door. "I hope we get something really good for going through all of this."

"I highly doubt it," Shockwave shot him down.

"Nobody asked you," Killshot glumly said.

"Whatever, can you just open the door?" Skywarp asked Dead End in front of him.

"Fine," he murmured, pressing the button and making the door open. "Let us get the gravity back to-"

Crack!

A shot rang out and Dead End hid behind the doorway, clutching his gut. "Dammit." It was obvious that energon was leaking out of it, indicating that's where the bullet hit. Before anyone else can act, a voice from inside shouted:

"Consider that a warning shot! Next Decepticon that gets in gets one in the head!"


	51. Sole Survivor PT 3

"Who the frag is that?" Skywarp asked in hushed tones away from the door as Hook maneuver around him to Dead End and started looking his gut over.

"Prison ship," Dead End gasped, his back to the wall. "Could be one of the prisoners."

"Don't talk so much while I'm busy welding you up," Hook told him, getting his welder out. "I'll weld this for now and exam it further back on the ship." At that, Hook began welding his wound shut.

"So, how are we going to get the generator back online?" Killshot asked. "We're going to be stuck floating until we get that online."

"Well, we gotta take out the prisoner somehow," Scavenger murmured.

"Yeah, I know, but how?"

"I don't know!"

"Silence," Shockwave ordered. "Bickering like this is not going to achieve anything."

"How about we send Skywarp in to take him out?" Misfire recommended.

"I don't know his position and with how twitchy he is, I doubt I would get him," Skywarp shot his idea down.

"Aw, man…," he groaned. "I thought that was a good one."

"There, done," Hook said, floating off him.

"Great, he won't die, now how to we kill the slagger?" Killshot demanded.

"How about… we try talking to him," Dead End labored to say.

"Uh, he shot you, remember?" Misfire said. "He'll probably put one in your head."

"If we tell him… we come in peace… we should be fine," Dead End told them. "Just let me talk… to him."

"If he wants to suicide by Autobot, I'm not stopping him," Killshot said, uncaring. "Better than doing nothing."

"Dead End, I can fix a body wound, not a head wound," Hook reminded him.

"Just get me there," he told him.

"I'll allow it, provided that you take extreme caution," Shockwave told him.

"Understood," he agreed, floating slowly to the door with the others following him. He kept going, his breathing getting worse until he almost reached the door and pushed the button to open it. The door flew open and two bullets quickly shot from the room and embedded itself in the wall, right where Dead End's head would've been. "Quit shooting, I only want to talk!" Dead End shouted into the room. The group waited in silence for an answer until the same voice asked a question.

"How many are you?" he asked.

"Seven," Dead End told him, "but only I will enter." The place was silent until he answered.

"Just you, you got that? Put up all your weapons and come in with your hands up."

"Holy scrap, I can't believe this is working," Killshot mumbled.

Dead End ignored him and put his rifle behind his back, then entered the room. The place was bright thanks to the power. Everything was floating around except for the generator and the console to control it. Behind the generator, he could see a bright yellow bot with red highlights with a gun pointed at him. He could see what looked like rotors protruding from his shoulder and his slightly bulkier kibble suggested that he was a watercraft. "Okay, now who are you?" he asked.

"Dead End. I came to… investigate why the ship was silent," he explained, holding his gut. "Who are you?"

"Seaspray. I'm a wrecker, so that should be enough to tell you that you don't want to pick a fight with me, not that I want one" he told him. Dead End found that very suspicious, as he lack that boastful bravado that many of them had in their voice, instead speaking in a rather nervous tone. "Why did you decided to bother me?"

"Because you're in the gravity generator room," Dead End told him. "The captain of the ship… requested that we get it back online."

"You want it back online? Assure me a transport out of here," he told him.

"What about the other-"

"They're all dead. I'm the sole survivor," he told him sadly, regret on his face briefly before it went back to anxious again. "Don't make me think about it anymore than I have to."

"I… understood," Dead End mumbled. "How do you expect us to… give you a safe way to transport out?"

"There's a hanger, although I don't know where. I'm too afraid to leave with those things out there and me having no idea where to go, I'll let you do it. Here," he said, throwing a beacon of some sort. Dead End captured it easily. "Take that and put it inside a working ship in the hanger. After that, you guys come back and I turn on the generator. Once I turn it on, you leave me alone while I get out, and you solve the rest of your problems here."

"Well… I guess we can do that," Dead End agreed, turning around and heading out of the room.

"That's… that's good," he could hear the wrecker mumbled as he regrouped with the others. "Did you get that?"

"Confirm. Trying to contact Swindle now," Shockwave told him.

* * *

"'Yello?" Swindle asked, answering the call.

" _We've run into a problem_ ," Shockwave told him. " _There's a wrecker prisoner by the name of Seaspray in the generator room preventing us from accessing it and turning the gravity back online. He's the last prisoner alive and willing to leave the room if we assure him safe passage to the hanger. Can you tell us how to get there?_ "

"Hold up, let me pull up the schematics," Swindle said, pushing a couple of buttons. A 3D schematic of the ship showed up on screen and he looked it over. "Alright, first you need to head to the elevator. From you current location, you'll have to go right when facing the gravity room's door, then take the first left all way to the end of the hall. That should lead you there. Call me once you reach it."

" _Affirmative. We will go now,"_ Shockwave followed his order as he went silent. With Shockwave gone, he quickly called Dereadwing again. After a couple of seconds, he answered.

" _Yes?"_ Dreadwing asked.

"Hey, do you have a prisoner named Seaspray?" Swindle asked him.

" _Yes, we do. Why?"_ he wondered.

"My guys are having a problem with him. What can you tell me about him?" he inquired.

" _Well, he's green, I'll tell you that much. Just joined The Wreckers not too long ago. Acts like one too. It's why we considered him not important,_ " Dreadwing informed him. " _Frankly, I'm surprised he's still alive. The prisoner section was ravaged and none of my troops made it out._ "

"Yeah, according to Shockwave, he's the only prisoner alive," he told him.

" _Well, aside from that, he turns into a watercraft, which is exceptionally unusual for Wreckers. They usually prefer land vehicles that are fast or big ones that can take a lot of damage. I wondered what they saw in him, but if he's still alive, I think I see why now._ "

"So he's dangerous, got that," Swindle murmured as he thought things through. "Hey, when was the prison section hit?"

" _I think it was the first,_ " Dreadwing told him.

"Huh-huh…," Swindle murmured.

" _Are you thinking that's where the creatures were let out?_ " Dreadwing asked.

"Yeah," Swindle replied.

" _Well, once the gravity is back, tell them to come to my position and we'll check it out together,_ " Dreadwing informed him. " _It's best to stay together._ "

"Alright, I'll spread the word," Swindle told him.

" _Good. Wish us luck,_ " Dreadwing finished as the radio went silent.

"Stay lucky…." Swindle murmured, before seeing that Shockwave was calling back. "You're there?"

" _Confirm, calling it now,_ " Shockwave informed him.

"Alright, take it and head up three levels. Take a right and continue until you reach the door at the end. That should lead you to the hanger."

" _Understood. Elevator is here. We're moving. We'll talk later,_ " Shockwave said as he ended the conversation, leaving Swindle by himself.

"Hmph, he never liked talking."

* * *

"Alright," Killshot murmured, as the elevator descended at an unbearably slow rate, "who here thinks we should take the stairs?"

"Patience, I rather not waste time looking for the staircase," Shockwave told him.

"Whatever," he pouted.

"How you're holding up, Dead End?" Hook asked him.

"Fine," he replied briskly, although he sounded in pain when saying it.

"Don't sound like it," Misfire noted.

"I'll survive 'til the end of the mission. Worry less about me and more about yourself," Dead End comforted them.

"I like his thought process," Killshot murmured approvingly.

"We should take you back to the ship, right Hook?" Scavenger asked.

"Probably, but we can't waste time right now. We have to keep moving and hope Dead End stays able," Hook brushed him off.

"I can always teleport him, if you want," Skywarp chimmed in.

"For the last time, I-"

Ding!

The elevator opened, showing off a wide and big indigo elevator with a couple of bodies floating around in it and energon staining the walls. "How comforting," Shockwave said as he moved in and tossed the bodies out of the elevator. "Let's move."

"Understood," Dead End gasped, getting in as well as everyone else. Shockwave pressed the button and the elevator closed, allowing it to start its slow ascent.

"Seriously, Dead End, are you okay? You're self-repair systems should've helped you at least a little bit by now," Hook asked as he looked over Dead End again.

"I'm fine. Just concentrate on the mission at hand," Dead End brushed him off.

"I'm a medic. It's my job to-"

Schring!

The elevator stopped, putting an end to their conversation. "Hey. What gives? We're not there yet?" Killshot asked angrily.

"Probably a malfunction of some sort. We probably have to use the hatch in the ceiling," Shockwave informed him.

"Alright, let me get it," the sniper muttered as he grasped the handle for hatch and pushed it open easily. He was greeted with darkness so he quickly turned his light on his gun on and waved it around the room with his right hand. The placed looked cleared, but he knew better than to think that. He lowered his light down the shaft until he concentrated on the floor itself. That's when he noticed the reason the elevator wasn't moving; there were a corpse jammed inside each corner of the elevator, causing it to stop.

"Aw slag." It was at that moment that he realize this was a trap.

"Acccccck!" A voiced screeched and Killshot quickly went back inside and began pulling the hatch down with his left hand. It was almost down when an arm suddenly got in and jammed itself between the hatch and dug itself in Killshot's left shoulder. He gave a harsh scream and quickly put his gun against the arm and fired.

Crack! Crack! Crack!

The creature screamed and let go, allowing Killshot to grasped the hatch with both hands and pulled it down more forcefully.

Squelch!

The arm detached from the creature and it gave a loud screech before it's weight got off the elevator. "Dammit!" Killshot yelled, grasping his shoulder.

"Hold on, I'll look at it," Hook ordered, getting close to him and looking at the wound.

"I'll try and open the door," Misfire told them, quickly moving up and he began pulling one the doors open. Skywarp quickly moved in and began assisting him, the two of them giving it there all.

"It went in pretty deep," Hook quickly noticed, looking at the wound and the energon oozing slowly. "Probably severed an energon line and some of the wires."

"I can tell. It stings really badly," Killshot replied.

"Uh, guys, we got a problem!" Misfire shouted.

"What is it?" Shockwave, looking in their direction, before he noticed what was wrong. "Oh." The entrance to the floor above only had a small amount of space to enter it, making it impossible for any of them to get out.

"We're fragged," Killshot murmured.

"Not as long as I'm here," Skywarp told them. "I can get us out of here."

"Do you have enough energy for all of us?" Shockwave questioned him.

"Well… no," Skywarp admitted. "Taking one of you guys with me was already hard enough and that explosion did a number on my system. I could get three, maybe four, out, one at a time."

"Is there anyway we can buff it up?" Scavenger asked.

"More energon, but I doubt you got some on you," Skywarp shot him down.

"Scrap."

"How about enlisting that wrecker… to help," Dead End recommended.

"Are you dumb?" Skywarp asked.

"Tell him that we're his only way out… and if he doesn't help, he'll rust here," Dead End told hold him. "That should get him eager to help."

"Alright, but who else here is going to help?" Skywarp asked.

"I'm fine, so I will go. I recommend that we take Misfire and Scavenger to help as Hook is busy helping Killshot and Dead End with their wounds," Shockwave recommended.

"Wait, you're going to leave us stuck in this elevator while these things are trying to kill us?" Killshot asked, not liking this.

"Yes."

"Oh, you slagger," Killshot growled out.

"It's for the best. Now Skywarp, take us back to the previous floor so that we may get Seaspray," Shockwave ordered him.

"Alright. Remember, one at a time," Skywarp told him, grabbing a holding of Shockwave and teleporting the two of them out of the elevator.

"Well, this sucks," Killshot murmured. "Hey, Misfire and Scavenger. Don't screw this up, alright? My life is on the line here."

"Weren't you the one who agreed… that we should look after ourselves only?" Dead End questioned.

"Hey, shut it!" Killshot growled at him. "Why don't I take this gun and- OW!" he shouted as Hook took a welder and began welding the wound back in place.

"Do be quiet. I'm trying to work here," he said. Skywarp reappeared and quickly grabbed a hold of Misfire before disappearing again. "Scavenger, do take care, alright?" he asked him, turning to look at him.

"Uh, oh yeah! I will," Scavenger told him, shaking his head rapidly. "You can count on me."

"Good." Skywarp reappeared and disappeared with Scavenger in tow at the blink of an eye.

"Well, looks like it's all up to them," Dead End said.

"Yeah, but we can distract them," Killshot reminded him, taking his gun and pointing it at the ceiling.

Crack!

He fired upward, piercing through the ceiling, and causing the creatures to go in a frenzy, attacking the elevator with their weight again.

"Well, you certainly got them a little crazy," Hook noticed, not even lifting his head up to look away from the wound he was welding.

"Yeah, should keep these guys off the others for a while," Killshot agreed.

"Until then, I will take… a little nap and try to recharge a bit," Dead End murmured, sounding tired.

"You definitely need one," Killshot agreed.

"Hm-mph," he agreed, just laying back in the air and taking a nap.

"There is something wrong with him," the sniper murmured.

"I agreed. I am going to give him a full examination when we get back on the ship. I've only given the basic ones because he always seemed healthy, but I'm not so sure now," Hook informed him.

"If we get out of here."

"If we get out of here."


	52. Ship Up PT 1

Seaspray hid behind the generator, holding his gun to himself, thinking things through. Once he got out of the station, he had to regroup with the Autobots somehow. Considering their current situation, it was probably going to be difficult. They were scattered and didn't have any reliable information lines or networks. He didn't even know how many wreckers there were. There were a couple of minor wreckers with him, but they were killed by those creatures. He was all alone right now, and he was depending on the Decepticons to provide him a way out.

He was in deep slag.

"Hey, you here?" a voice asked from the doorway that was distinctly different from Dead End, being far more raspy than his. Seaspray instinctively got his gun and rise up from cover, aiming his gun at the new Decepticon, who appeared to be a dark-red-and-white paint job with a lot of scars.

"And you are?" he asked, keeping his gun trained on his head.

"Name's Misfire. Pleasure," he told him. "We've run into a problem."

"Problem?"

"We got ambush in the elevator by those things. There's only four of us here while the rest are trapped in the elevator," Misfire told him.

"So? How does that relate to me?" he asked.

"Look, let me be honest, I'm not as good as I could be with a gun-"

"He's really bad," a timid voiced said from behind the doorway.

"And another one of us is a neurotic mess!" he turned to shout to the voice, before turning back to him. "Oh, also one guy has only one arm and the other is recovering from being in an explosion."

"So, you're saying you need my help to reach the hanger, correct?" Seaspray asked,.

"Yeah, exact-"

"No."

"Oh, come on!" he shouted, spreading his arms out in annoyance. "Why?"

"Because that's not what I was promised!" he shouted.

"Seriously, that would be a good argument if it wasn't for the fact that you'll be _screwed_ if you don't help us," Misfire told him. "Look, it's unlikely that we'll make it to the hanger alive, so if you want to get there, you'll help us."

"And what's to prevent you from stabbing me in the back?" he asked.

"Eh, nothing really," Misfire bluntly answered. "You just gotta take the chance."

"You're honest," he muttered.

"Well, I rather not make any bad lies," he told him with a shrug.

"Well then, I'll make a contingency," he told him.

"Is that a assurance that you'll come with us?" Misfire asked with a smile.

"Yes, after I do something to ensure you won't screw me over," he told him, walking on over to the console while keeping his gun trained on him. Misfire glared at him, crossing his arms in annoyance as he reached the console. Seaspray pulled a device out of sub-space and attached it to the console and pressed a few buttons. "Alright, listen, I planted a deadmech's switch on the generator. Kill me, that goes off and you won't get you gravity back. Once you get me to the ship and I'm gone, I press a button to turn it off and turn the generator back on for you," he told them, putting his gun up and floating on over to them.

"Alright, whatever," Misfire replied nonchalantly. "Are you ready to go?"

"Sure," he replied, meeting up with him. "Do you know where to go?"

"Hey, Shockwave? Have you asked Swindle about an alternative path to the hanger?" the seeker asked him.

"Yes, I have," the monotone voice replied.

"Wait, Shockwave? As in the mad, crazy, love to torture, Shockwave?" Seaspray asked, pointing his gun back at Misfire's head.

"Those are some misnomers, as I am neither mad nor crazy," he told him.

"But you love to torture?"

"I do torture, but it's not because I love it. It's often necessary for research," Shockwave replied.

"I'm not sure he even knows what love is," said the other voice that Seaspray hadn't heard.

"Uh, does this even matter?" the timid voice asked. "We need to get moving before those creatures reach our location."

"Scavenger raises a valuable point," Shockwave said. "We need to get moving before they locate our position."

"A constructicon too? Are you kidding me?" Seaspray complained in disbelief.

"Hey, moron, last I check, you have no choice in being picky when we're your only chance of escaping this deathtrap!" the other voice yelled, revealing himself from the doorway to glare at him. "Either you follow us or these creatures ripped you apart. That's all you have, so quit being a glitch and let's get going!"

"Hey, aren't you-"

"Yes, I'm Skywarp, now let's get going!" he ordered.

"I guess… I don't have a choice," he muttered, floating towards them with his gun by his side. "Just remember, you screw me over, I screw you over."

"Same to you," he replied with a sneer. "Now where do we go, Shockwave?" he asked as the actor and the wrecker entered the hallway.

"We need to take the stairs up. They are quite close to the elevators, so we need to make out way back there."

"Alright, stick close, Autobot. We don't want you to get ripped apart and set off the deadman's switch. Get in the middle," he told him.

"If you said so," he replied, a bit paranoid, taking his spot with Shockwave and Scavenger in the front, and the jets in the back. "Can't believe I'm working with Decepticons."

"Trust me, thanks to recent events, Autobots are off the top of my kill-list," Skywarp told him as they got moving.

"Really? What, did some of your own screw you over?" he asked.

"No, it's a bunch of neutrals," he muttered, incensed.

"Neutrals? I thought they make it their mission to stay away from you, or were you the aggressor?" he asked, looking back at him.

"They fired the first shot and made the first kill," he told him. "Those fraggers blew up Thundercracker and nearly killed me, hence all of my pretty scars," he said with a wry grin and showed off his blue arm. "Also why I had to get a new arm."

"Is that-"

"Who else?" he answered his question before he could finish. "When we track them down, they won't comprehend the suffering I'll inflict on them."

"Good thing I'm not them," the wrecker murmured.

"Oh, yeah, you bet it is."

* * *

**Talos Four, Periphery Heights, Moscow Hotel,**

"Checking in?" asked the pure-white bot at reception to the two new people.

"Yes, but just for one night," Flame told him, getting some shanix out. "How much?"

"Depends on the room."

"Just a regular one with twin berths."

"450 shanix, sir," he asked and Flame provided, handing it to him. He took it and got to work typing something into a computer before a keycard popped out and he gave it to them.

"You're room key opens 1304," he told him with a little bow.

"A bit high for a regular room," Chromedome mentioned.

"The quality of rooms isn't decided by floors," the receptionist said with a shrug. "It's a bit complex. The only floor without regular rooms is the top floor."

"Understood. We'll take our leave, Mr….?" Flame questioned.

"Whiteout. If you're looking for an employee to talk to, come to me. Most of the services here are provided by drones, so I'm really the only regular employee here," he told them.

"Why are you here if everything else is so automated?" Chromedome asked.

"In case the drones need repairs, I'll fix them, and I handle all complaints in the building, which isn't much, as we don't mess up often," he told them. "Everything here runs perfectly, usually."

"Good to know," Flame said with a nod. "Anything else?"

"Nothing that you need to know, now please enjoy you're stay here," he told them, turning to his computer and began looking through it. The two guests walked on over to the elevator, which open as they arrived to let out a purple-and-yellow femme, who was marching to the receptionist.

"Hey you!" she yelled.

"Yes, ma'am," Whiteout responded, turning towards her with a comforting smile.

"Someone tried to bust into my room last night," she told him.

"Huh? Are you sure?" he asked, worried.

"Positive! They left marks on the door from where they tried to break in," she told him.

"Let me go look at it," he said, heading to the elevators where the other two guests were and pressed the button, opening the elevator. All four entered it and pressed the button to the 13th floor, causing the elevator to go up. The femme was crossing her arm in agitation. Whiteout was silently muttering to himself about maybe having to do background checks on guests, and Chromedome and Flame were looking at each other, interested with the current situation.

Ding!

The door opened, letting them into the 13th floor. The femme immediately exited the room and headed out, not stopping for the receptionist. The other two follow along, interested. The room numbers started out at the end of the west hall and ascended up to end of the east hall. The femme walked down the West hallway until she reached her room, number 1305. Whiteout met up and looked at the keycard reader. "Scratch marks and dents are all over it. Yeah, someone tried to break in, which is bad," he said, getting back up and scratching his head. "Do you know why anybody would want to break into your room?"

"I don't know! I was recharging for the night, then I heard some noise like someone was trying to break in. I heard him as he kept trying to break the door down and yell at it. After a little while, he went away, but I didn't dare leave the room until this morning when you were at reception," she told him.

"Okay, I'm going back to reception to check something. I think I might know what happen," he said.

"Wait, you can tell what happen just from my statement?" she asked.

"I said I might know. Can you two watch over her as I go check on that one thing?" he asked the two followers.

"Yeah. Don't worry, we're civil people," Flame assured him.

"Great, be back in a few cycles," he told them heading back to the elevator and entering it. The trio looked at each other before the femme asked.

"Okay, so who are you guys?" she asked.

"Oh, I'm Chromedome and this is Flame," he introduced themselves.

"Thunderblast," she said, extending her hand out to shake. Chromedome shook it quickly, giving a nod. She gave hers to Flame, who glared at her, before grasping it and giving one quick shake, before retracting and crossing his arms.

"I'm interested in how this receptionist could already figure out the attempted break-in of your room so quickly," Flame said.

"I've been here for quite a while, so I'll go ahead and tell you there's more to that guy than meets the optics," she told them. "Once you get past how creepy that all-white look is on him, you get to learn that he was an exceptional attention to detail and can extrapolate a whole lot from it. I guess it comes with his job."

"It takes more than just organizing what room people go to, to figure this out so quickly," Flame responded, thinking it through. "He had to have had a job before the war that involved a lot of details to figure it out so quickly."

"Yeah, well, whatever," she shrugged looking them over. "So, you guys Autobots?" she asked, looking at Flame's shoulder and Chromedome's chest.

"Yes, we are," Chromedome replied. "We're here to break before grouping up with some others."

"Hmph, you're lucky that Autobots are allowed here and no Decepticons are allowed in," she told them.

"Yes, although Autobots aren't very welcome here either," Flame muttered, slightly angry. "They hold both us and the Decepticons as equal to blame for the destruction of Cybertron. The only reason why we're allowed here is because the leader used to be an Autobot."

"Yeah, well, that might change. I've been noticing a few protests around the area calling for the banning of all Autobots from this planet."

"Of course they are," he scoffed, rolling his optics.

"Hey, I'm back," Whiteout said as he got of the elevator and quickly approached them. "I'm done with what I need to do and I'm pretty sure I know who the attempted burglar is."

"Seriously?" Chromedome asked.

"Yeah, I think so. In fact, I'll show you now," he told them, before walking to the door to Thunderblast's room right side, number 1306, and knocking loudly on it. The four waited before a bit before they heard some fiddling with the door on the other side, revealing a brown-and-purple mech with red eyes on the other side, holding his head in pain.

"Can this wait? I'm nursing a hangover," he told them.

"Excuse me, but do you remember your movements from last night when you entered the hotel," the receptionist calmly asked him.

"OH, uh, well, it's kind of blurry. Was a bit fragged up last night before I got here," he replied, thinking it through. "Let's see, I got here, I heard some painful noise and flipped it off-"

"I remember that. I was just greeting you."

"-took the elevator up to this floor, tried my door, but it wouldn't open, so I pounded at the keypad, before walking off to calm myself down. I went back to it and it opened, just like that," he finished his account of last night.

"Right, great, it's exactly what I figured. Have a good day," he said before closing the door close suddenly. He quickly turned to Thunderblast. "He was overloaded and simply mistook his room for yours. I'm sorry that he bothered you and will guide all overloaded patrons of our establishment to their rooms so something like this doesn't happen again."

"Oh, uh, thanks," she replied, nodding her head in approval. "What did you have to look at in your desk?"

"I was just looking at the keycard usage for your room. It was used a couple of times last night and failed, so I thought some just mistook their rooms for someone else's," he replied with a small smile. "Now have a good day and don't let this incident bothered you."

"Thank you," she replied with a smile back and Whiteout walked back to the elevator. Thunderblast watched him go before turning to the two others. "Well, glad that's settle," she said.

"Yes, although it was a bit anti-climactic," Flame replied, a little disappointed.

"Pleasure to have met you and if you need us, we're right next door," Chromedome told her.

"Alright. Later," she replied, opening her room with her keycard and going inside. The two scientists glanced at each other before using their keycard to enter their room as well.

* * *

"Alright, your shoulder should be fine until we can get it completely fixed," Hook announced to Killshot. Indeed, Killshot's shoulder was mended by the welder, which as had the side effect of burning any technopathogens in the wound. Hook followed this up by encircling his upper arm with his shoulder with some wires from the ripped apart bodies to prevent it from moving and opening back up. That would be painful and disastrous if it did happened.

"Thanks. You're not a bad medic," he replied, examining the closed wound.

"Well, I must admit I'm quite exceptional," Hook bragged. Killshot rolled his optics in annoyance. He forgot that he was talking to an egotist. A _racist_ egotist who hated anybody who willingly decides not to use a T-cog. He was practically his mortal enemy. But as much as he hated to admit it, he was good and he had to be friend with him for the duration of the mission. So he might as well tried to find some way for them to co-exist and get along with each other.

"Hey, you agree that Misfire's out of his mind?" And nothing got people together like shit-taking about other people. The enemy of my enemy is my friend is a popular trope for a good reason.

"I think the problem is figuring out _where_ his mind is," Hook gave a genuine laugh that made Killshot laughed with him.

"Oh man, you're right. That explains why he's so scatterbrain. He doesn't have one!" Killshot howled. The two continue to laugh about it for a few seconds before calming down and Killshot asked another question about him. "You're his therapist. How many times do you got to repeat a question to him?"

"Hmph, I think a better question is how many questions he dodges. As much as I loathe to admit it, he's really good at dodging them. It's like my questions are missiles and he just barrel rolls out of the way," Hook complained.

"Well, he got messed up. What else do you need to know?" Killshot asked with a shrug of his good shoulder.

"You do realize what happened to him, right?" Hook asked.

"Eh, never really cared," he replied back. "What, did he take a rocket to the face or something and that's why he looks like slag?"

"No, he was tortured to the point of being in a coma by Megatron," Hook answered, causing him to give a double-take.

"Come again? What did that drugged-up moron do to tick him off so much?"

"A massive friendly fire, leaving quite a few people dead, including Blackout," he told him.

"Wait, Blackout? As in _that_ Blackout. I knew he died, but I didn't know how. You're telling me that he killed Blackout on _accident_? That's humiliating," he remarked, pity in his voice.

"Tell me about it," he agreed, amused. "Friendly fire is never a fun way to die."

"That's agreeable," came a cynical voice and they turned to look at Dead End, floating towards the wall.

"And how would you know?" Killshot asked.

"And why do you insist on moving?" Hook questioned, moving towards him. "I don't want those wounds to be reopened."

"Ah, sorry," he grunted, as Hook came in range to check his wounds.

"Sorry, nothing. I rather you not make my job any more difficult," he told him.

"As for your question, Killshot, I've… had experience with friendly fire. Not saying I've been a victim… of it or committed it, but I know people… who have done it and been shot," Dead End explained to him.

"If I'm correct, one of the ways for Motormaster's death was friendly fire, among a variety of other ways," Hook mentioned.

"He wasn't very popular with anybody on both sides… least of all with my fellow gestalt-mates," Dead End muttered.

"Yeah, I met him like once or twice. Dude was a –oh, how do I say it- a slag, fragging aft," Killshot insulted the former gestalt leader. "Honestly can't think of a better person to be killed. Not even Turmoil was that much of an aft."

"Like I said, he wasn't very popular," he repeated.

"Alright, your wounds should not open up, but if you move too much too suddenly, you'll be bleeding like a spigot," Hook told him.

"Understood."

"And I'm checking your self-repair systems when we get back on the ship. I haven't checked that out," he told him.

"Oh, well in that case, I'll just go ahead and tell you… that I was created without one," Dead End calmly told him.

"What!" Hook yelled, staring at him. "You're telling me, that all these millions of years, you've not had a repair systems."

"Well, yes," he told him. "I'm usually really good at not getting injured."

"Wow, you must have insane pain tolerance," Killshot noted, maybe a little jealous at that.

"Not really. I'm just good in combat," Dead End told him.

"And I wish you stop being so nonchalant about this," Hook chastised Dead End. "This is going to require extensive work to get a repair systems online in you."

"I'm fine," he told him. "Just keep my insides from falling out and I'll keep going."


	53. Ship Up PT 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, this took a while, but here you go!

"At the staircase," Shockwave announced to Swindle over the comms. The place was dark, barely illuminated by the lights, which gave off a dull glow.

" _Take three floors up_ ," Swindle told him. " _After that, hang right until you reached the end. Once you do, turn left and take the second door on the right._ "

"Understood." Shockwave signed off and explained to his group where to go. With that, the four went up the stairs.

"Your guy is pretty well-informed," Seaspray mentioned in the middle. "Who is he? I can'y quite remember what you said."

"Swindle. You might know him as one of the feet of Bruticus that stomps you to death," Skywarp told him in the back, leering down the staircase to make sure nothing was coming up to meet them.

"Oh, that guy. Yeah… Wreckers don't have a lot of fun things to say about the Combaticons," he mentioned, looking up to see if anything was coming from above.

"I imagine death by being stomped on isn't something you want on your epitaph," Misfire mentioned from behind him, looking behind the group.

"We've had a couple that happened to. Their corpse wasn't very pleasing to look at," he told the group. "Just imagine being crushed to death."

"Happened to me in one of my movies. It was very cool," he told him, thinking about it fondly. "The way body the bends inwards on itself, the innards slowly oozing out…"

"A stomping is basically what you described, only faster," Seaspray pointed out and then added. "You described that so lovingly."

"It was how it was written in the script," Misfire shrugged with a grin.

"Who are you, exactly?" Seaspray asked. "I know Shockwave and Skywarp, as any Autobot should know, and we know all the gestalt members, such as Scavenger," he mentioned to the bot in front of him, looking in all directions. "You say your name is Misfire and you're an actor, but I've never heard of you."

"Eh, I'm not really that important in the scheme of things," he answered with a shrugged.

"He is also not very skilled in how to use a gun," Shockwave mentioned from the front.

"Must that be mentioned every time?" Misfire complained. "My name's Misfire for a reason."

"Nor originally, right? I doubt anyone would be jerkish enough to call you Misfire upon creation, despite how accurate it apparently is," Seaspray wanted confirmation.

"Correct, although these days, I don't quite remember what it was," he remarked, rubbing his head clumsily.

"How does that happen? Shouldn't you be able to remember it?"

"Hard drugs will do that to you. It corrupts the memory banks and causes memory lapses," Scavenger mentioned.

"Hey, they're fun. You guys should try them sometimes," he recommended, with a nudge to Seaspray. "I could make some for you."

"Uh, thanks, but no thanks," Seaspray stammered, making Misfire look sad before giving a shrug.

"Eh, your lost."

"We're here," Shockwave announced, stopping in front of the door. The group prepped themselves real quick, checking their weapons and Skywarp checking his energon level for warping which was regretfully low from getting the others out.

"Erg, I swear, if I wasn't blown up, I'd be able to get everyone out of the elevator and still have plenty of energon to spare," Skywarp complained.

"Is it really that bad off?" Seaspray asked.

"The shrapnel and blast wave cause a lot of damage to his internal system, especially the ones relating to his energon systems," Shockwave explained.

"Yeah, that's… hey, how do you know that?" Skywarp asked, glaring at him.

"Ways," Shockwave replied. "Now, let's head in."

"Alright," Skywarp reluctantly answered. The group did one last check-up before Shockwave opened the door. Inside, they found a similarly deserted hallway lit up well by the lights, except for small patches of darkness from destroyed light sources and was littered with energon and body parts.

"We have to reach the end of the hallway on the right, so let's go," Shockwave told them, moving forward with the others following behind closely. The group floated through the hallway, looking out for the creatures and listening for any movements from the creatures. The group moved around the body parts and energon and tried their hardest to stay out of the dark. Each time they reached a completely dark space, Seaspray would bring out a flare that he stole while he was running away and used it to help the group get past the dark spaces without leaving themselves open to attacks. Eventually, the group reached the end of the hallway, Shockwave took a left and the group continued to the door on the second right with no attackers.

"Alright, good job," Misfire complimented everyone, as Shockwave opened the door to the hanger. The group slowly entered the hanger, looking around for any monsters. The hanger's purple color scheme was well lit under the lights and ships in a variety of colors and sizes was before them. The hanger was very large and the group was stuck on the bottom floor with two balcony and walkway levels above them. They were at one of the corners in the area. "Alright, so, are you picky about the ship you need?" Misfire asked him.

"I just need one that I can use by myself," he told him, looking around. "Let's see if we can find one." He propelled himself forward, going to check out the ship. The group kept up with him, wanting to make sure he doesn't get killed. The hanger seemed to be littered with tools, scrap metal, and wires just floating about. The ships were ordered haphazardly, which was odd, since the Decepticons knew that being orderly meant more space and Dreadwing knew that very well. Seaspray reached the collection of ship first where a large ship was blocking a considerable amount of what he could see. He reached the ship and immediately looked around the corner.

"Gwrk!" Seaspray moved out of the way as a bipedal creature emerged and attacked him with claws. He immediately brought his gun up and fire three shots quickly, the first missing and the next going through the creatures body, making small holes to see through. The creature gave a roar in pain and retreated back behind the ship before anyone else can fire more shots.

"Frag, why did that thing retreat!?" Seaspray shouted as he backed up to the group.

"It's no doubt hiding in the area of ships to make an ambush to kill us," Shockwave told him.

"Don't tell me we're going to have to go in there to kill it," Misfire moaned.

"If you want to get me a ship out of here, yes," Seaspray chided him.

"Oh, frag."

"Well, we stick together and make sure we don't separate, right?" Scavenger asked them.

"It would be best," Shockwave agreed. "It would be foolish to just dive in, so we should strafe the perimeter before entering it."

"Sounds good," Seaspray agreed. With that, the group began circling the ships, looking for the creature.

* * *

*Thump!*

"Those things are really annoying," Killshot murmured as the creature slammed against the elevator. They've been doing this in a set interval of about 30 seconds and it was annoying him. "You think these creatures would take a break."

"Well, due to their organic/mechanical structure, they could act differently," Hook told him, looking at the small entrance.

"I don't know all that biology stuff. I prefer literature," he remarked.

"Really now?" Hook asked, interested.

"Creator was a lit professor at a college in Telos. He always- *Thump!* made sure I read my books," he told him.

"I read my books in all my spare time. I mostly read Scrapper's art books, Mixmaster's chemistry books, and Gravedigger's book on graveyards," Hook told him.

"Well, I mostly read the classics such as Aurelius and-" he paused and thought something through. "Wait, who the frag is Gravedigger?"

"Huh?"

"Constructicons have six- *Thump!* -members; you, Scrapper, Scavenger, Mixmaster, Bonecrusher, and Long Haul. Who's Gravedigger," he asked him again.

"No one important," Hook shrugged him off.

"Nuh-huh. You mentioned him in the same breath as Scrapper and Mixmaster. That implies that he was a-"

"He's unimportant now. He's dead. That means he's irrelevant to all conversations," Hook told him, glaring straight into Killshot's optics.

"Alright…," he awkwardly replied, looking at Dead End instead, who was staring at the elevator roof. "What are you- *Thump!* -doing, Mr. Morals?"

"Paying attention to the creature's movement," Dead End told him.

"Its' movements?" Killshot asked, looking up. "It likes to smash against the roof."

"In the same time interval and in a pattern," Dead End said, getting his rifle. "Both of you, get over here."

"What are you planning?" Hook asked, abandoning the door and getting close to him, Killshot doing the same.

"When I tell you to, fire right… above me and don't stop," Dead End told them, aiming his rifle above him.

"Are you sure about this?" Killshot asked, aiming his pistol where Dead End told him with his good arm, as Hook got his submachine gun out as well. "This sounds stupid."

"Trust me, I'm right," he reassured him. The group kept their guns aimed up as they waited for Dead End to give an order. "Fire!" The group fire as one and the creature yelled as this happened. The group fired until Hook and Killshot ran out and Dead End's kept going, his gun not requiring bullets. The creature's scream, on the other hand, didn't stop, as it continued to yell in pain. "Finish it off!" he yelled.

"Hold on," Killshot told him as him and Hook got another clip out and replaced them before firing where the creature's screams of pain were. The creature screamed some more before going silent as the two ran out of bullets again.

"Did we get it?" Hook asked them, replacing his clip.

"It's quiet," Dead End said, cooling his gun down to prevent overheating.

"Want me to go check?" Killshot asked.

"If you're up for it. We'll watch for anything else," Dead End told him.

"I'm not, but I want out," he told him, heading to the hatch to open it. "You guys better make sure I don't die."

"I'm not a sharpshooter. No promises," Hook told him as he followed along to help him.

"I will do my best… in my current state," Dead End told him, struggling over to him and getting ready to aim. Killshot glanced at two before he pushed the hatch opened, allowing him to look around with his gun's flashlight. The creature they were shooting at was floating around, purple fluid all around it. Killshot noticed that there was no limbs removed from the creature, meaning it wasn't the same creature whose arm he ripped off, but looking around carefully didn't show any other creatures around, but he could see a small trail of liquid floating around.

"Alright, the creature is dead, but it's not the one that stabbed me," he told them. "It appears to have run away, leaving a trail behind."

"So, it's clear?" Hook asked.

"Yeah," he told them, "but it's best not to put your guard down."

"Got that," Hook said as he moved to Dead End and helped him get through the hatch.

"Thank you," Dead End said as he moved through the hatch, keeping his gun on the ready.

"I'm going to contact Swindle. Give me a second," Killshot told them as he tried to contact Swindle. "Swindle, you're there?" he asked for him.

" _Yeah,_ " Swindle answered.

"Me, Dead End, and Hook are free from the elevator and going through the shaft. We need to know where to go," he told him.

" _Hold on. Let me pull your position,_ " Swindle told him, leaving him alone for a few seconds. " _Alright. Take the nearest door out of the shaft and keep going forward to the door at the end. Should let you regroup with everyone._ "

"Got that," Killshot said and hanged up. "Alright, it shouldn't be too hard to reach the others. Just need to reach the next doors and keep going to the end."

"But Dead End reaching it is," Hook told him, who was breathing heavily.

"He is right. It would be best to… leave me behind," Dead End recommended.

"Frag that! Give me your rifle and you can use my pistol and we'll make it just fine," Killshot ordered him, handing his pistol out for him to use. Dead End glanced at him unsurely before handing his gun over to Killshot's free hand and grabbing the pistol.

"If you're confident enough to get us there, try. It's worth a shot," Dead End told him.

"My shoulder's busted, but my aim is always good," he said, waving his gun around. "Now, let's go reach the others."

 


	54. Ship Up PT 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shockwave's group jump ships, Killshot and Dead End fight, Corpsegrinder lands on Talos Five to a potentially fatal surprise, and Swindle gets bored.

"Seriously, that fragging creature must be well hidden in those ships," Misfire complained as they were finishing circling around the ships. "We can't find it without going inside all the ships."

"Great," Seaspray sighed. "I just want to get out of here already."

"You whining is noted," Shockwave brushed him off as he thought things though. "It's dangerous to enter the ships, but it is all we can do."

"So, you want to stay in the air or on the ground?" Scavenger asked as they decided what to do.

"I say the air, traveling on top of the spaceships," Seaspray recommended. "Best view and allows us to have the higher ground."

"That sounds alright," Misfire agreed.

"Says the guy who can't shoot straight no matter what, but I also agreed," Skywarp answered. "The high-ground is always important."

"It seems we're in agreement. Let's go up," Shockwave ordered, moving upward with the others following along. The quickly got on top of a medium size, gray ship and looked around. They could look down next to the ship and look over a few of them, but can't look past several ships. At the middle of the maze of ships, the tallest ship was there. "I would like consensus on whether we should stick to the ships or float over to the tallest ship," he told everyone.

"We should probably stick to the ships," Scavenger replied.

"I say we should just float on over there. Shouldn't be too hard," Seaspray answered.

"And therein lies the difference between Wreckers and everyone else," Misfire muttered, rolling his optics. "Let's just charge forward and leave us open to ambushes. Take the ships, it's less likely to end with us getting stabbity-stab to death."

"It works pretty good," he shrugged.

"Might as well take the ships. My tank is running low and would rather use my teleporter for an emergency, although it isn't my style," Skywarp agreed. "Going to take a bit of maneuvering to reach it."

"Well let's organize a way over there," Shockwave said as he looked the terrain over. It was an unorganized mess with the ships placed in no order and some of the ships floating quite high.

"It's a very multi-level environment," Scavenger said as he looked around. "If it wasn't for the gravity, it would be very hard for us."

"Yeah. Good thing these whatevers are incapable at shooting at us," Misfire said, pleased. "Mindless monsters."

"Yes, very good," Shockwave echoed as he looked at the ships. "I think I know the best way of reaching the center."

"What is it, cyclops?" Seaspray asked, wanting to get this over with.

"It's best to go diagonally right from ship to ship," he told him. "If my calculations are correct, it should allow us to get to the center ship with the least amount of space traveling in-between ships."

"Hey, that sounds good," he nodded, getting to the edge of the ship and looking down. "I don't see anything around, so we should be good to go and it's only a skip away. Who wants to go first?"

"I might as well," Skywarp shrugged before hurrying past him and jumping through the air and landing on the other ship quite easily. "Not hard at all. Come on over," he told them, priming his gun for anything that should interrupt them.

"Alright, I'll go next," Seaspray agreed and did so easily, crossing it without any creatures attacking him. The group continued this, Misfire going next, and followed by Scavenger and Shockwave rounding it out.

"Well, that went very nicely," Scavenger cheered. "I think this will work very nicely."

"Good. Let's keep it up. Quickly," Shockwave told them.

* * *

"Oh, I think this was a bad idea," Dead End murmured in pain as the three of them made their way through the ship. Hook was holding on to him with one hand as they made their way forward with Killshot next to them, looking behind and in front of them to keep on the lookout for any of the creatures to try and jump them. "Should've just left me behind."

"By yourself. Injured? Yeah… no. They would take advantage of that and kill you in a fluctuation," Hook shot him down, his submachine gun in his free hand.

"Duh," Killshot agreed, reaching an intersection. He made them stop and advanced ahead to make sure a creature wouldn't attack them. He stick close to the right wall as he slowly inched himself forward and looked down the left hallway for any creatures. All he saw as he crept forward was a couple of dead bodies and some energon floating around. With that cleared, he leapt to the left hallway and turned aim his gun at the right hallway, finding nothing. "All clear," he answered and Hook and Dead End made their way forward, regrouping with him as they continued on down the hallway.

"This is insane… the three of us should've just stayed in the elevator," Dead End continued to complained.

"And what if they fail?" Killshot asked. "What if us escaping the elevator is the reason that they succeed?"

"That's unlikely. Don't even pretend that is certainly going to happen," he growled.

"Of course not," he said, rubbing his neck nervously.

"You thought for sure it was going to happen," he deadpanned.

"I can hope, right?" he chuckled.

"Narcissist," Dead End muttered.

"Coming from you, that's hilarious," he laughed. "You spend all your time buffing yourself."

"Shut up," he flustered.

"Oh, you two are both so annoying, I would put a bullet in one of you two's head, probably Dead End's," Hook complained.

"Do it already."

"I'm tempted."

* * *

"Alright, Talos Five," Corpsegrinder said as he opened the door to let them out of the ship. The door opened and a ramped slid down to the ground. With that, Corpsegrinder walked down with Bombline following along to go get someone to fix his ship. Each of them had a small pistol on their hips. He moved in into the the airport, where a bunch of people were, either to explain why they're leaving, why they're entering, or for repairs for ships. It was wide open space with many of desks around for various reasons. There was also the check-in group, who was waiting for them to come over to them. The two walked on over to them, each of them placing their guns on the desks.

"That's the only firearms we've brought with us," Corpsegrinder told them. The two blue mechs looked at each other before shrugging and getting scanners out. The two of them each scanned a gun, adding it to the worldwide registry to trace back to them, and handing it back to them. "Thank you," he thanked, the two walking off.

"Alright, I'm going to find some mechanics to check out my ship. Do whatever you want," Bombline said as he left, leaving Corpsegrinder alone.

"Fine by me," he muttered before looking around. It had been awhile since he's been there and needed to make sure nothing he needed to go to changed much. He looked around a found an information desk on the wall near where he entered. He walked on over and took a spot where a red mech was ready to answer questions. "Hello."

"Welcome to Talos Five," he greeted him with a small bow and a fake smile that he's master over the years. "What do you need to locate."

"I need to find Liberation Hotel," Corpsegrinder told him.

"Liberation Hotel? I think that was replace with another hotel," he said, searching through the computer's search engine. "Yes, it was bought and renamed to Moscow hotel," he told him.

"Ah, thanks for the help," he thanked him.

"You're welcome, sir… what the frag?" his gaze turned to something behind him. Corpsegrinder was confused and turned around and his mouth shook opened. A yellow mech with pink and blue highlights walked inside, a LMG at the ready and was aiming it in his general direction.

"Get down!" Corpsegrinder yelled as he jumped over the desk and pushed him over and the person shot blindly in his general direction. Bullets flew through the air, destroying objects, piercing desks, and leaving holes in the wall. The shooter continued, shifting his aim to the security booth on the other side of the airport lobby. Corpsegrinder ready himself, getting off the mech, drawing his pistol, and poking his head out to see the direction he was looking in. The shooter wasn't paying attention to him, so he took aim, aiming for his head. He steady himself and took fire.

Crack!

The bullet went through the shooter's head, leaving a large hole in the side of his head. He shook, still shooting, until he collapse to the ground, the shooting finally done. Corpsegrinder breathed a sigh of relief as the info mech stood up and looked at what he did. "Well, you're a crack shot," he murmured blankly, not quite understanding completely what has happened. Corpsegrinder ignored him and looked around. He could see several people on the ground, some quivering, some begging for help, and some not moving at all, energon pooling around them. "This is the seventh mass shooting in the city this stellar cycle."

"What?" Corpsegrinder asked, turning to look at him.

"This… is the seventh mass shooting in the city this stellar cycle," he repeated.

"That's… strange," he muttered as Bombline walked on over to him.

"Thanks for the save," he thanked him. "He was shooting in my direction when you domed him."

"You're welcome," he muttered, putting the pistol back to his side. "So, I'm guessing we're going to have to give statements to the law enforcement here."

"Unfortunately. Hope Flame can wait a little bit," he muttered.

* * *

Swindle relaxed in his chair, quietly playing with his fingers. Waiting for results was very boring and he desperately wanted to do something, but his previous injuries prevented that. Still, it was safe here at least, as long as there was no other surprises. He also quietly humming to himself a tune Killshot played for him. It was stupid synth-pop that was maddeningly catchy and he would blackmail someone into silence in order to keep the fact that he did this quiet.

*Beep Beep*

"Hmm?" Swindle muttered as he pressed the button to respond. "Hello?"

"…" No one spoke, confusing Swindle.

"Hello?" he repeated.

"…"

"Hello?" Swindle asked, louder. This was not normal in the slightest.

"…"

"Hel-"

" _Hey!_ " a voice shouted, causing him to jump, as a sudden funk beat erupted from the speakers.

"The frag?" he asked, turning down the volume. "Who in the pits of Kaon sent this?"

" _Let me set the record straight!_

_You're losing yourrrrrr mind!_

_I can cureeeeee you!_

_But you're not my kind!_ "

*Click*

Swindle turned it off, annoyed by the thing. That was such a non-sequitur. Who the frags sends music to him? Killshot might, but he was fighting for his life. No one else would! He placed his palm on his face, trying to think things through. Who would send this? No one would. So why would… someone… send him... music… Why did he feel liquid on his hands? He lifted his hands back to see energon on his hand. He rubbed his other hand against his optics and looked it, seeing energon it as well.

His optics were bleeding.

"Are you okay? You're bleeding," A deep voice asked and he felt someone leaned against his chair. That voiced sounded extremely familiar to him. He looked into the cockpit's glass reflection, energon starting to leak into his vision. He saw his face, energon trialing down the side of his optics as if they were tears. He looked past that to the individual behind, staring down at him. He was a dark-green tank with yellow optics.

Brawl.


	55. Sore Sight For Optics PT 1

"What the…?" Swindle let out, standing up and turning to look at Brawl. He looked the same, large and bulky, body littered with dents and scars. The only thing about him that looked different was his yellow optics being dimly lit. "Brawl, what are you-"

"I said, are you okay?" he asked again, walking closer and looking carefully at him. "You're not supposed to bleed out of your optics."

"It's- it's nothing. The dead aren't supposed to come back to life either," Swindle told him.

"You've already seen that on the Apoptosis. Why am I so different?" he asked, crossing his arms.

"They were mindless. You're not. You speak. You talk. You can process information… I'm going crazy," Swindle muttered, clasping the side of his head.

"If you're going crazy, why are you bleeding?" Brawl continued to ask him and Swindle groaned in pain as the remainder came back to him. He rubbed the side of his hand on the underside of his optics and felt energon leaking out of it.

"Okay, why would they bleed," Swindle muttered, pulling his hands back to look at them, covered in blue fluids. "My bleeding could be caused by… infection from the zombies and the hallucination can just be energon lost with the added benefit of being heavily affected by your death."

"Why must you blame my death on yourself?" he asked, walking over to him.

"Stop!" Swindle yelled, making him stop. "You are a hallucination to help me find some closure while I'm bleeding and I don't need that." He walked forward and got around Brawl, heading for the exit.

"Swindle," Brawl said, turning over to look at him and he did the same, "don't blame yourself."

"Damn… my conscious is an _idiot_. I didn't test the EMP. Therefore, I didn't get the chance to fix it. Therefore, you had to play the martyr and sacrifice yourself to activate the damn thing," Swindle scoffed in disgust and continued out the door. "You're from my mind. Stop being a dumbaft."

* * *

 "Woo-hoo!" Misfire shouted as he crossed the distance between two ships and landed easily. "And Misfire sticks the landing flawlessly with the crowd going wild!" he began showing off to a fake crowd cheering while the others on the ships looked at him in confusion. Scavenger and Shockwave quickly jumped up and joined them at the other ship.

"Alright, we're close to the tallest ship. Just a few more jumps," Seaspray said as he looked at the tallest ship. "And we still haven't found that creature."

"Fortunately," Shockwave said as he looked across to the next ship. "Let's move quickly. Skywarp, jump."

Roger," Skywarp said as he quickly darted across the ship to the other side easily. Seaspray followed along, leaving Misfire as the next to go. He smirked and did a mock warmup, much to the others annoyance, before making a clean leap through the air. It was going well, gliding gracefully, until he felt something in his eye and landed roughly, stumbling forward. "Gah, what was that?" he asked, rubbing his eye.

"I didn't see anything," Seaspray said and Skywarp nodded the same thing.

"What's wrong?" Scavenger asked as he jumped to the ship.

"I accidently ran into something in the air," Misfire explained to him. "It felt like a liquid."

"Well, let me look at it," he said as Skywarp guided Shockwave over to the spot.

"Come on, we were all watching. Nothing was in the air. He's just an idiot," Seaspray told him.

"I… don't think so," he said as he turned to them. "His optics are bleeding."

"Say what?" Misfire asking, looking at his hands to see his own energon on it. He felt around his optics with his hand to see if more energon was there.

"This is a strange symptom," Shockwave muttered. "Would his drugs cause that?"

"I don't think so," Scavenger said as he turned his back from them to look at Misfire. "Extended drug use may cause it, but not would happen around megacycle after the usage of it for it to kick in."

"How many drugs does he take? I bet it's just a delay affect from the amount of drugs in his system, if he's a chronic offender of them," Seaspray told him.

"Maybe. Depending on the drugs. What was the last one you used, Misfire?" Shockwave asked.

"I used some syk last night," Misfire answered.

"Syk? Isn't that illegal?" Seaspray asked. "I mean, that's how it is with the Autobots, but I forget that you guys lack a moral backstrut."

"No, we ban that too because it's some dangerous slag," Skywarp told him. "Don't want our soldiers tweaking out in the middle of battle and shooting each other. That stuff really does a number on you."

"No slag, idiot! I took some last night and hallucinated then. I shouldn't be hallucinating now," Misfire moaned, holding his head in pain.

"You're hallucinating now?" Shockwave asked.

"Yeah. I keep hearing things. Voices… trying to speak to me," he moaned. "They're total slaggers."

"Drugs wouldn't have residual effects that would appear again after it was gone," he muttered. "Must be something else."

"We don't know that for sure. Syk is some seriously dangerous stuff," Seaspray told him.

"No, I don't think it is," Scavenger said, sounding worried.

"Why is that?"

"Because," he said, turning over to look at them, revealing energon running down from his optics, "it's happening to me too."

* * *

"Clear," Killshot announced as they got close to the door. They only had a few more doors until they reached where they wanted to go. Killshot was still doing an admirable job at sweeping the area while Hook was watching behind them and taking care of Dead End. It was going good.

Until disaster struck.

"What the frag?!" Killshot yelled as he started wiping at his optics with his hands.

"What's going on? Is it something that's going to impede our progress?" Hook asked.

"My optics! They're bleeding," he told him, rubbing his eye quickly.

"What? Turn around!" Hook ordered and he did so, showing off the energon leaking from his optics.

"What the frag causes this?" Killshot asked, scared, which was unusual for him.

"I don't know. This is a rare occurrence," Hook told him.

"We need to get in a side room quickly. We're easy prey here," Dead End told him.

"Right… door here," Killshot said, fumbling around for the switch and pressing it, opening it up to a storage room. The three quickly entered the room and Hook closed it behind them.

"Now, let me look at it," Hook said, coming over to Killshot, who was resting on a box.

"First my shoulder and now this. Primus must really hate me," Killshot muttered.

"Karma finally kicking in," Dead End muttered.

"Then why aren't you suffering?" Killshot asked him, which caused him glare at him and cross his arms.

"Tell me, does it hurt?" Hook asked.

"Not really, but it's freaking me out," the sniper answered.

"Well, that's good," he said as he looked at his optics. "The energon is leaking from the bottom corners of your optics from a small crack that bursted from the pressure."

"Well, where did the pressure come from? Is it some sort of disease?" Killshot asked.

"I only know of a couple that would, but generally, bleeding out of the optics is one of the last things when the patient is not dying, not the first symptom," he explained. "You are a very unusual case. I am actually quite interested in you now and it isn't in disgust at you lifestyle. Good job."

"I could really do without the insults while you're diagnosing me when I'm more capable of mocking you," he muttered.

"That would be very bad for me," he murmured as he floated away. "I have no idea what's wrong with you, but it certainly is interesting."

"And he's not the only one," Dead End muttered.

"What, is it happening to you as well?" Hook asked, turning to look at his clean face.

"No, to you." Hook stared at him, insulted, until he felt something running down his face and brought his hand to his optics, feeling the energon running from it.

"It's an infection. That means that- why did you turn your music up?" Hook turned to Killshot, who had increased the volume to levels loud enough for everyone to hear him. Killshot didn't hear him, instead pushing his headphones against his heads hard, mumbling softly to himself.

"What's wrong with him?" Dead End asked and Hook didn't provide one, confused as well.

"Check on him. I would, but my optics are oozing energon and I think that might affect my capabilities," he sarcastically ordered him.

"And risk infecting the only non-infected person here?" Dead End asked him.

"To be honest, you're probably infected as well. Might as well go ahead and do it before your optics start letting out energon as well," Hook told him, wiping his optics in an attempt to keep himself clean. Dead End glared at him before doing so, floating his way over to him, shaking him and lifting one side of the headphone up to yell at him.

"Killshot! What 's wrong?!" he asked. He looked up at him, energon spilling at a rapid pace, pushing him back and clamping down harder on his headphones and looking down.

"Don't you see her?" he asked. Dead End looked around the room, confused.

"What does he see?" he wondered.

"Hallucinations," Hook realized. "He's seeing things that aren't there and…," he held his hand in pain," I'm hearing voices. Nothing too bad. It's minor compared to his."

"So what do we do?"

"I… don't know."

* * *

"Guah," Swindle gasped as he stumbled into the Med-Bay, energon continuing to drip from his eyes, down his body, to the floor.

"Swindle," Brawl said, sitting on one of the surgery tables, "calm down."

"I'll calm down when my optics stop bleeding," he growled, stumbling over to the medicine cabinet.

"Swindle, this could be temporary. Don't be so quick to say that it's some kind of infection. If it's an infection, what will you use to cure it?" he asked.

"I don't care. Something has to fix it," he muttered, looking around and wiping his eyes every few seconds to be able to look around. He was moving fairly slowly, not having much energy

"You're losing energon at a steady pace. Maybe you should drink some energon. There should be some around for transfusions during surgery," Brawl recommended to him.

"That's… a good idea," Swindle said, walking to the other end of the room. "Nice job, fragment of my mind that needs to go away."

"You're welcome." Swindle opened a cabinet and took out a cube of energon and quickly chugged it down as well as another one.

"Alright, that'll buy me some time," Swindle muttered as he turned around and relaxed on the countered, looking at Brawl. "So, why am I hallucinating you?" he asked.

"Well, we have the bond. Everyone in our gestalt was connected. It makes sense to imagine me, especially since you think you cause my death," Brawl told him.

"Did, not think," Swindle corrected. "Remember what I said about not being an idiot. You may take the form of Brawl, but you're created from my imagination, which means that you came from my brilliant, business savvy mind. Stop having Brawl's mental capacity," he growled, getting back to walking to the medicine and looking through it. "There has to be something here that cures zombie bites somehow."

"You know, Swindle," Brawl said, turning back to look at him, "I sacrificed myself to save you. The least you can do is treat me like an actual person."

"That would work… if you weren't a hallucination," Swindle told him as he heard a ringing in his head. "Either someone wants to talk or I'm getting auditory hallucinations as well," he said as he answered. "Yeah?"

" _We have complications, Swindle,_ " Shockwave told him.

"You called at a really bad time, Shockwave," Swindle told him angrily.

"It's not bad," Brawl told him.

"Yes it is."

" _Are you okay? Who are you talking too?_ " Shockwave asked.

"Killshot on another line. I got rid of him," Swindle told him.

"Good cover," Brawl clapped sarcastily, which Swindle responded by giving him the finger.

" _We got a strange problem. Scavenger and Misfire are bleeding out of their optics, with both of them experiencing auditory hallucination,_ " Shockwave told him, making Swindle paused in his scowling.

"Come again? You said they were bleeding out of their optics and experiencing hallucinations?" he asked in disbelief.

" _Yes. Unusual, is it?_ "

"Yeah, especially since I got the same thing," Swindle told him, leaning on the counter.

"What?" Shockwave asked in the same monotonous tone that somehow expressed surprised.

"I know… I'll call back in a second. I'm going to check on the others," he said, signing off and calling the other group, starting with Killshot.

"I wonder how this happened," Brawl wondered, thinking it through, as Swindle grunted in frustration at Killshot not answering, and then Dead End. "How can you three, who are in different places, experiences hallucinations at the same time in varying amounts of seriousness." Swindle ignored him and was glad when Dead End did responded.

" _We got problems,_ " Dead End told him.

"Let me guess. Optics bleeding and hallucinations," Swindle answered.

" _How do you know?_ " he asked, surprised.

"Me, Scavenger, and Misfire are both experiencing the same thing," he answered.

" _Hook and Killshot are both experiencing it, although Killshot's is more serious. Hook is experiencing audial hallucination, whispers and all that, while Killshot is experiencing full-blown hallucinations, actually seeing them,_ " he answered.

"I wonder who someone like Killshot is talking to," Brawl wondered. "Doesn't seem to have many friends."

"Scavenger, Hook, and Misfire are experiencing auditory hallucination while me and Killshot are experiencing full hallucination. What could be the reason for that?" Swindle asked.

" _If it's just the five of you, there has to be something in common,_ " Dead End told him.

"I don't remember being in a group with all of them," Swindle told him.

" _I can't think of a place with all five of you together either,_ " Dead End told him.

"So… what is it?" Swindle asked.

"Swindle," Brawl chimed in, "maybe you didn't have to all be together to contract it."

"What does that mean?" he asked and Brawl just shrugged at him.

" _Are you talking to your hallucination?_ " Dead End asked.

"Yeah. He's being a cryptic jerk," Swindle told him. "He said that maybe it's something that we didn't all have to be together for to contract."

" _What does that have to do with… wait. Actually, I might know. If we take you out of the equation, the other four were together while we explored the ship,_ " Dead End answered.

"And they shot the monster," Swindle realized. "Maybe when they killed it, it let out a gas that infected everyone's immune systems."

" _That doesn't explain you._ "

"Actually, I did fought and killed a creature on the ship."

" _What? How did it ever get in?_ " Dead End asked him.

"It was smuggled in through a box. I don't know how, but I bet it was Gutcruncher," he told him.

" _So, extended contact with the creature leaves you to experience hallucination, but why the differing amounts?_ " Dead End wondered.

"Check him for any of the creature's blood," Swindle ordered.

" _Looking now,_ " Dead End said, going silent for a little bit. " _Confirm, he's got bloodspots on the side of his leg._ "

"That and the fact he was stabbed by the creature has to be the reason why. If blood gets on the person, they experience severe hallucination," Swindle said as he looked himself over. "Wow, I really have got to clean up."

" _So, permanent or temporary?_ " Dead End wondered.

"Probably temporary. Clean Killshot's leg with… something while I go take a shower and wash all this scrap off. It's been long overdue," Swindle told him.

" _And the stab wound_?"

"We just have to hope that it doesn't affect him too much."

" _Understood._ " Dead End got off and Swindle called Shockwave again while exiting the Med-Bay to head into his room.

" _Yes._ "

"Hey, the reason why everyone's sick is because of the creature emitting a poisonous gas and fluid. If you kill one, stay away from it," he told him.

" _Thank you, Swindle. We'll have to operate on the assumption this is temporary since something like this is very unusual,_ " Shockwave told him.

"Yeah. Be careful and pay more attention. These creatures are going to be a major annoyance," Swindle told him as he got off.

* * *

"My name's Barricade. Let's make this quick," an authoritative voice said as a black-and-white bot with red optics entered the interrogation room and took a seat in front of Bombline and Corpsegrinder. "You landed at the airport and the two of you headed into the airport, in which the gunmen entered and shot up the place. Once he started, you," he pointed to Corpsegrinder, "shot him straight in the head cleanly. Nice one," he complimented as he looked at the two of them. "So, why are you here?"

"Getting supplies for a long trip," Corpsegrinder answered.

"And what is it about?" he asked.

"We're going after this Decepticon who's a pain in the aft," Bombline told him.

"Oh, my old employers. I think I'm starting to like you," he grinned.

"His name is Swindle."

"Now I like you less," he muttered, his expression deaden. "I actually like him, although I completely understand why you want him dead. He's not very… loyal, if you get what I mean."

"I've only met him once and it was us shooting each other. I just want him dead for a bounty," Bombline explained to him.

"Oh, well, that makes sense. Figured someone would do that sooner or later," he muttered, scratching his head. "So, where are you going?"

"To get a few people to help us, as well as supplies. Nothing illegal, as you should expect," Corpsegrinder assured him

"Alright, I'll let you go. Don't discharge your guns into any crowds," he told them, standing up and standing aside, getting a datapad. "Get out."

"Thank you," Corpsegrinder said with a nod and the two walked out. Barricade glanced at them before typing in his datapad.

_Swindle. Found the guy you were looking for._

 

 


	56. Sore Sight For Optics PT 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Trepanation is a very useful thing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the two month wait.

"Can anyone tell me when my optics will stop bleeding?" Misfire asked his group as he kept his hands against his optics to prevent leaking.

"The answer to that is currently undeterminable," Shockwave answered simply.

"Your face is undeterminable!" he yelled back at him.

"That… was unnecessary," the scientist muttered.

"Hey, let's worry less about him and more on getting me to the ship!" Seaspray interrupted, stepping in-between the two. "We made a deal and I need to get on that ship."

"Surely you realize that the trek would be more difficult with the ailments affecting Scavenger and Misfire," Shockwave asked him.

"Oh, come on! They're obviously the two least useful here. Just kick them to the curb," he uncaringly said.

"For some reason, I bet you wouldn't say that if they were Autobots," Skywarp scowled.

"And for some reason, if the positions were reversed, I bet you would be saying to leave them behind," he shot back.

"I don't know… might need them, if only as bait," Skywarp muttered as he looked around.

"You're not serious, right?" Scavenger asked, also holding his hand to his optics.

"Eh, I wouldn't mind leaving you behind to die," Skywarp shrugged. If he could get rid of Scavenger without being blamed, then he would, although he doubt Shockwave would do so.

"The three of us moving to the ship would be unadvisable, since each person would have to look over at more area and leave more room to error. We need to find a way to end these hallucinations, if only temporary," Shockwave ordered them.

"A number's advantage would be nice, if only for a little while," Seaspray muttered, scratching the back of his neck. "But we need a certain way of preventing their bleeding."

"Well, the problem is an overflow of energon going through the optic fibers and leaking out from the optics through the pressure causing cracks. If we could lessen it, that would solve it," Shockwave surmised.

"We could put a bullet through their head. That would relieve the pressure," Seaspray 'offered.'

"No… but a hole in the right spot could relieve it," he realized.

"Okay, I was kidding! I know you're sense of humor is dead, but don't believe everything I say," he told him.

"Does anyone have a precision piercing weapon?" he asked everyone, much to Seaspray 's disbelief.

"Oh my Primus…," he muttered, hold his face in his hand.

"Um… I may have brought something with me," Scavenger told him as he used one arm to cover his eyes and his left hand to fish around in subspace for something before pulling out a small knife that was extremely pointy.

"I think that will work," Shockwave said as he grabbed it from Scavenger. "Seaspray, hold his head still. Skywarp, watch the area," he ordered.

"You're fragging crazy!" Seaspray yelled as he walked on over and did his best to hold Scavenger's head still as Skywarp started turning his head around like it's on a swivel, watching out for any threats.

"Last I check, being logical is the opposite of crazy," he told him as he held the sharp object at a slight angle upward and placed it slightly below Scavenger's left optic.

"Do you know what you're doing?" Scavenger asked him nervously.

"Yes, I do. Now be quiet. I'm going to pierce below your optics into your optic fibers and tubes and see if I can leak energon out to relieve pressure," Shockwave told him.

"You're insane," Seaspray muttered as Shockwave began inserting the knife, piercing through his metal frame, which would've make Scavenger flinched in pain if Seaspray wasn't holding his head in place. Shockwave kept moving up slowly and Scavenger could feel the object sliding past the wires and small metal pieces up to behind the optics. He felt the object pierce his small energon tube and Scavenger gave a small yelp at that.

"I believe I found it," Shockwave said as he slowly pulled the object out and let a trickle of energon fall through the hole at a slow but steady pace. Seaspray let go and Scavenger wiped the energon building up on his optics and looked around.

"Hey, no more energon is coming out of my left optic," he said as he looked up at Shockwave, which gave him a clear view for the first time of the cracks in his optic.

"Holy Primus, I can't believe that worked," Seaspray muttered, shocked.

"Let's finish that off and work on Misfire. Then we can get to the ship," Shockwave ordered.

"Yeah, we might want to tell Hook's group about the trepanation so that they can get rid of it," Scavenger told him.

"Good call. You call Hook and describe it to him," Shockwave agreed as Scavenger started contacting them.

* * *

"Ugh, this is really annoying," Hook said as he continued wiping at is optics.

"It's likely to not get better," Dead End muttered. "I'll probably get it soon since we passed through the dead creature when we were going up the elevator shaft."

"That's true. You probably will," he agreed, thinking it through. "We'll be defenseless."

"Which means… we're dead," he said, accepting of it.

"Yeah, we are- hello?" he said as he heard his receiver come on.

" _Hook? We figured out a way to relieve the effects,_ " he told him.

"You did?" Hook asked.

" _Trepanation. Start from below one of the optics and go up until you hit the energon lines with a sharp, pin-point object. You'll know you've hit it when you pull it out and energon starts trickling out"_ Scavenger told him.

"That… makes sense, but very odd," Hook agreed, fishing something out of subspace and producing a knife like Scavenger's. "Thanks for the tip."

" _Great. Now Shockwave's going to do my other optic, so talk to you later_ ," Scavenger said as he got off.

"Right," Hook muttered as he continued to wipe his optics. "Dead End, how steady are your hands?"

"Fine enough. Why?" he asked

"You're performing a trepanation," he told him as he threw his sharp object at Dead End, who catch it and stared at him inquisitively.

"Will that work?"

"Positive results on Shockwave's end, so I assume so. Just make a hole under each optic going up through the center until you hit the energon tube. You'll know you hit it when energon starts coming out of the hole," he told him.

"Right, okay," Dead End nodded, thinking this through, before he asked, "Are you serious? You really want me to drill a hole in your head?"

"Come on, it makes sense," he told him, wiping at his optics. "Hurry up so I can start seeing properly again."

"This is insane… fine," Dead End muttered, moving towards him. "I suppose if this doesn't work, I'll just be ending your suffering earlier than expected."

"That's the spirit," Hook sarcastically muttered as he got in front of him and placed the knife under his left optic, slanted upward. Dead End looked at Hook, a silent question coming from him. "Go on. Do it," Hook told him. Dead End shrugged and slowly inserted it through the bottom of his optics, making Hook give a slight gasp, but immediately calmed down as he waited for Dead End to reach his energon line. He could feel the knife scraping across the inside of his head, making small sparks against the metal it slid against. The sound of the scraping was all-consuming, forcing him to keep his mind on it the whole way through until he felt it hitting his energon line and he gave a loud gasp. "You got it, I think," Hook told him quickly and Dead End immediately started backing out, only taking a few seconds to extract it and a small trickle of energon leaking out of the wound.

"Huh, that work. Has your optics stop bleeding?" Dead End asked him as he wiped the energon from his optic and looked at Dead End.

"I'm not seeing any pooling in this optic. Did it work?" he asked him.

"It would appear so," he told him, looking it over. "Shall I do the other one?"

"Yeah, let's do this quickly," Hook ordered, holding still as Dead End placed the knife back under Hook's optic and repeated the process, drilling the knife through his face upward until it hit the energon line and pulled it out to get energon dripping out of it. Hook wiped the energon from his optic and looked at Dead End. "Alright, I think we're good," Hook said as he focused his optics and refigured his HUD.

"Good. Now, I believe it's best to get started on… Killshot," Dead End muttered as he looked around the room. "Where is he?"

"Huh?" Hook asked, looking around. "He's gone! He must've left because of the hallucination."

"Huh, better go get him. He has the assault rifle," Dead End told him.

"Scrap. Alright, we'll go, after," he took the knife out of Dead End's hand and placed it under his optic, "I make sure your optics won't bleed."

* * *

"Why won't you talk to me?" a feminine voice asked Killshot, breaking through his loud music, which Killshot was doing his best to amplified by pushing his headphones against his head as much as he could and having the rifle hooked to his back so that he can take it with her. Somehow, her ethereal voice managed to break through the cacophonous music, sticking it inside the very center of his CPU with every word as he floated through the halls, trying to get away from her. "Please, I haven't talked to you for so long," she begged, her voice cracking. That almost made him stopped, but he kept going, knowing that nothing good was going to come from this. "Please, Softy." Now that caused him to stop, turning around to look at her. She had definitely seen better day, since her originally brown paint job had practically been burned off and replaced with ash and soot and many holes and exposed wires left in her caused by high-temperature burns. Her optics were glowing a dull orange, a look of satisfaction coming from it at finally getting his attention or as much as he could give.

"Been a while since I've been called that," he said, looking at her the best he can with his bleeding optics.

"Well… you've been doing a good job of making sure no one knows your actual name, Softstar," she told him as she got closer to him. "I like that name more than your new one."

"Come on, do you expect anyone to take me seriously if my name was Softstar? They would probably just laugh at me," he chuckled, looking away from her. "I need a job and guns and violence is what I'm good at. I need a good name to go along with it."

"I know what you need to do and why you need to do it, but still, I like Softy more than anything," she said, getting closer to him as he went back to rubbing the energon from his optics.

"Yeah, I know… but why does it matter anymore? You're dead. I have no reason to keep it," he told her.

"Except for-"

"We don't talk. I give her money and that's it. As long as she stays where she is, she'll be fine," he told her, rubbing the energon in his optic away to look at her.

"Does she want to?" she asked.

"She's practically begging, but I can't leave yet. Swindle is paying me and I need it, plus I like my job. I can't just head on out to her. I have to work for her and you know it," he told her, his vision blurring from the energon again and he started wiping.

"And what if you die? How can you provide for her if she dies?" she asked him, getting in his face.

"I'm already am. You're looking at my sickness, of which you're a symptom," he accused, scowling. "You're not real, so go away."

"Huh… that wasn't very nice," the ghost muttered.

"I like you better when you were alive," he growled, wiping at his eyes and looking around. "Oh, frag. I need to find them."

"If you want to get out alive, I guess you do. She needs you," she muttered, crossing her arm.

"You're right about that," he muttered as he unclipped the rifle on his back and readied himself. "You got me out in the open."

"You ran instead of talking to me. It's your fault," she said as he wiped his optics again.

"Oh, forgive me for freaking out with my optics bleeding and your dead self coming back to haunt me," he sarcastically complained as he glared at the apparition before raising his eyebrows at something moving behind her. "Frag," he muttered as he realized that the creature was dashing at him down the hall from the ceiling. He immediately aimed upward and fired a barrage of lasers at the creature. He aim was sloppy, but a few hit their marks and the creature gave an abnormal screech as it was hit and jumped to the right wall and kept moving forward, stumbling towards Killshot. He took a quick swipe at his optics and once again fired more at the creature, this burst being a lot better and landing many at its head and shoulder, causing a bunch of purple liquid to burst from the creature and a death yell before it detached the wall and floated aimlessly. Killshot took some calming breaths before wiping his optics clean.

"Nice shot," the hallucination said, crossing her arm. "You were always good with guns."

"Yeah… still am," he muttered. "And you were always good at punching people's faces in, including mine."

"Anyone could beat you in a fist fight," she laughed and he had to chuckle as well.

"That's true," he agreed, wiping the energon from his face. "Still not good at it." He looked backed at her into her smoldering optics, feeling mirth at looking at them. He truly missed her.

"Turn your music down, idiot!" a voice yelled in his audio sensors as someone pulled the headphones back and yell into them, surprising him and he jumped backward at it. He turned to look at Hook, who was glaring at him the harshest look he could offer and Dead End behind him, crossing his arms and both of them had a thing hole under their optics with energon dripping slowly from it.

"Yeah, sure," he said as he moved his hand to the side of his headphone and changed the volume of it. "Okay, what?"

"First off, I'm drilling a hole in your head," Hook told him, showing off his thin knife and Killshot looked at Dead End with a shocked look as he merely shrugged.

"It works. Just accept it," he told him.

"You must be kidding," he said, shaking his head and sending some of the energon building up in his optic off.

"Look, it's safe. I'm just sending this under your optic up to your energon line," Hook told him, annoyed.

"Uh, no thanks. I'll just keep my bleeding optics, thank you," he said, holding his hands out.

"Hu-huh… Dead End, keep him still."


	57. Sore Sight For Optics PT 3

"Ugh," Swindle moaned as he stumbled the bathroom. It was a rather simple room that was colored white with a sink and cabinets on the left and a shower that he could entered through a hazy, glass door. Brawl was present, leaning on the wall in front of him with his arms crossed, glaring at Swindle. "Can't you leave me alone, you moronic specter?" Swindle insulted, glaring at him.

"No can do. Figment of your imagination, remember?" Brawl asked him, cocking his head at him. "I'm forced to be near you at all times, an ever-present figure."

"Oh, _yay_. I can't wait to permanently erase you from my sight," Swindle murmured, wiping away the fluids in his optics as he got a call. He turned it on and talked. "Yeah?" Swindle asked.

" _Swindle, we figured out a way to prevent energon building up in the optics,_ " Shockwave told him.

"Really? What is that?" Swindle quickly asked.

" _Trepanation_."

"Are you serious!?" Swindle yelled, stunned. "Didn't the whole of society agreed that drilling holes in people's head was a bad idea and we shouldn't do that?"

" _This one is more precise. You will need a thin blade to pierce under your optics up to the energon tube,_ " Shockwave told him.

"Are you serious? I can't do that by myself! I be squirming and flinching all over the place," he explained the flaws of his plan.

" _Then we'll take care of it when we get back,_ " Shockwave told him.

"Great. I'm going to take a shower and get all of these stain and fluids off me. I really need to get this off," he told him.

" _Fine. We'll keep you inform,_ " Shockwave told them and got off.

"Shockwave's ideas are pretty suicidal," Brawl remarked as Swindle went on over to the shower.

"Yeah, but knowing him, it probably works. He's a disturbing genius," Swindle muttered, opening the door, entering it, and closing the door before starting it. The shower was a simple cubicle with ridges holding cleaning materials for him to clean his frame and a small window above the glass door to let any steam out.

"Maybe so and everything he does is just a little unsavory," Brawl acknowledge, his voice coming through the window.

"Exactly," Swindle nodded as he turned it on and water came out of the showerhead. "I swear, I've been deal with so much scrap lately because of him. All because I wanted to make a deal with the fragger, even though warning signs were all over the place that I should've left immediately."

"Greed has always been your biggest weakness," Brawl told him.

"And wrath was yours, always wanting to get ahead. Always wanting to punch anything in your path. Always willing to go on ahead. Always getting angry over small things. Always willing to go on the most suicidal option. And look what the attitude got you!" he shouted to him, getting a glass bottle and pouring a white liquid onto a rag before he started cleaning his frame, trying his hardest to get all the stains off.

"I admit that I'm not the most even-tempered, but you're greed did cause us some troubles as well, in case you don't remember," he reminded him. "Remember Vitoh? You made that a clusterfrag when you sold half our ammo supplies off to colonists exploring outer space."

"Hey, that was a killer profit. Made double the price," Swindle told him.

"You forgot to mention that to us until our feet was on the ground in enemy territory. We had to steal weapons and ammo from corpses to actually survive that," Brawl reminded him.

"I knew Onslaught would cancel the mission if he found out, so I stayed mummed about it. I knew that we could do it and we succeeded," he justified his decision.

"Yeah, but it made us late having to constantly scramble for ammo. Because of that, the main army botch their attack by going early and getting hit hard until we took out the gun towers," he pointed out. "That was all your fault, in case you don't get it."

"Maybe, just don't say that to the DJD while I visit them. Oh, wait! You're dead," Swindle mocked, laughing to himself before slowing down to a quiet moan. "Frag, this virus has seriously affected me," he said in a low tone before bending down to clean his legs.

"Maybe. Maybe that's how you really feel about me. You don't care," Brawl accused.

"Hey, watch it! Do you know what it was like for us when you died? We fell apart! When one dies, everyone's affected, including me, you aft!" Swindle reminded him.

"Yes, but if that gestalt bond wasn't there, would you be affected by my death or would you just continued along without losing an ounce of sleep?" he continued to laid it on him.

"If it wasn't for that bond, I wouldn't even had bother to know your name except for business. I _had_ to care for you because of that bond. I had to know your likes and dislikes. The fact that you weren't liked by your creators at all. I could sympathize. My carrier abandon me and my creator was a monumental prick," he ranted, rubbing ever harder against his legs. "You were created in poverty. I felt bad about that. I was sympathetic to the poor, because my creator was such a slagger," he rubbed his legs even harder, not caring if he went too far. "You had a split-spark twin who died a week after creation and you barely survive, due to an epic screw-up from low-quality medical service. I know the guilt eat you up so much inside that you just got angry at everything your whole life and used that to be angry at everyone and everything. I know that's why you volunteer at the arena and fought all of those other gladiators. I know all of this because you forced this upon me so that we could all understand and work with each other. So shut up, you guilt-tripping ghost! I'm still grieving! I still have nightmares about your death. It doesn't matter why, I do. I cared!" he finished his tirade, hyperventilating as he stood back up and tried to calm, choosing to lean against the wall with his shoulder. Brawl was quiet behind the door, choosing not to say anything for a little bit before he spoke again.

"Thanks for your honesty, Swindle. It means a lot to me," Brawl thanked him.

"You knew I was going to say that. You're just a figment of my sub-consciousness, wanting me to get my anger out. It's pretty effective," he complimented as he used the rag to try and clean his back.

"That's cruel, Swindle," he complained.

"I see you're not disagreeing with me. Typical. Nobody knows me better than me," Swindle bragged.

"Who knows you the most next?" Brawl asked him, wanting an answer.

"You know that… and I really don't want that to get out."

"Afraid?" he questioned.

"You could say that," Swindle muttered as he went into the small areas of his body that required precision to clean.

"How much do we really know about you?" Brawl asked. "You have a tendency to lie, so what did you say that was actually the truth?"

"Come on. You know that. You're from my mind. Go on," he told him, wanting him to say the obvious.

"…Yes, it was all the truth. You just left some things out, but that's what we all did," the tank answered, withdrawn.

"Yeah, so don't wring me out for leaving some stuff out. We all did. Frankly, for the better. I didn't want to know every dirty little secret you or everyone else had and vice versa. Besides, there are some things you just don't talk about," he told him.

"True… there was some things that I wanted to tell you guys about, but never had the backstrut to tell you. Taking it with me to my death is probably for the better," Brawl acknowledge.

"Don't know how you know. You're from my mind. You have no idea what your darkest thoughts were, although I do agree. You keeping quiet about it was the best for everyone," the arms dealer said as he put rag to the side after finishing and just stood their, enjoying the water.

"Are you using up the water?" Brawl asked.

"Damn right I am. My ship and I can do what I want," he told him, enjoying the feeling of water cascading off of his frame. "Onslaught was always such a stickler for the rules. Less than two cycles for washing the dirt and grime off you. Well, what now? I'm the king here!" Swindle laughed to himself.

"Yes. Master controller of the water! How amazing," Brawl mocked him.

"Hey, don't do that. This is so good, I bet you wish you were an actual physical being instead of a screwed up part of my mind just so you can feel it," he bragged.

"I did enjoy them… best part of some of my days," Brawl muttered.

"Oh, yeah. You didn't have one, didn't you?" Swindle asked, trying to get the info out from the recess of his mind.

"Not until I hit the arena. Going there and meeting Megatron was one of the best decisions of my life," Brawl said with a tone of happiness.

"Good to remind me," he acknowledged. "I won't say joining the Decepticons was the best decisions of my life, but since the Autobots are basically destroyed, I'll say it was one of my smartest." Swindle looked around his body, making sure he didn't miss any stains.

"Hmph, you never cared much for ideology," Brawl muttered.

"Still don't. You have to be open-minded to work with as many people as possible," Swindle told him. "I'll work with almost anyone. Almost."

"Nice to see you have some shred of decency. Must be a tenth of the rag you use to clean yourself," he scoffed at him.

" _Nice_ backhanded compliment. Have you been stealing my lines?" Swindle questioned him.

"Having access to your CPU helps me out a bit," he admitted.

"Of course it does. You're better at punching people's faces in than delivering pithy remarks," he chuckled before turning the shower off and grabbing the rag again and held it over his optics to prevent any energon from getting on his frame while he dries and to leave him in the dark.

"It's fun to punch things," Brawl answered simply.

"Yeah… could you be quiet?" he asked. "I would just like to think to myself for a little while."

"If you want. I'll be around for a little while."

"Yaaaaaaay…."

* * *

"We're almost there," Skywarp told the group as he landed on the next ship. "Just two more and we should reach it."

"Great," Seaspray said as he jumped the gap and landed on the next ship. "The sooner we find one and I get out, the better."

"I believe that," Misfire said as he landed right behind him. "This low gravity stuff is getting to me."

"Why? You're a flyer," he questioned him.

"Yeah, but this isn't how I fly. It's always as a jet, not in my primary form," he answered.

"Oh, I know what that is," Scavenger said as he jumped on the ship. "You have primary form confusion. You're experiencing things in your primary form that you should only experience in your alternate form. It's common for flyers to feel it in low gravity situations."

"Sounds like a bunch of stupid," Skywarp said, unamused. "I don't feel it, so I highly doubt your claims."

"You don't feel it? That's strange," Scavenger murmured.

"He's probably an exception," Shockwave said as he landed on the ship. "Exceptions are rare and they are an annoyance when they occur."

"Right, you can talk about that later after we get to the ship," Seaspray interrupted, reminding them of what they were supposed to be doing.

"Right, science can wait until we get out of this area," Shockwave agreed.

"So, I'll take the next one," Skywarp announced, moving forward to take the next jump. Seaspray and Scavenger looked around for any intruders as he did a quick jump across the ship and landing on it. "Right, move on up!" he yelled at them.

"On my way," Seaspray answered as he jumped across to the ship and Misfire followed along.

"Right, here I go," Scavenger shouted as he jumped on up to the air and landed on the ship. He turned around and gave gesture with his hand for Shockwave to come on. Shockwave nodded and jumped on to the ship. With that done, all that was left was scaling the tallest ship to the top. Skywarp moved quickly, jumping up with Seaspray at his side. Msfire and Scavenger followed behind them with Shockwave slowly making his way up. They kept climbing until they reached the top and looked around.

"Hey, you think that ship can work?" Misfire asked, pointing at a ship near them. The group came over to see what he saw. It was a small yellow ship that looked like it could only hold a few people. It was so small that it was caught in-between two ships and would've been impossible to see if they weren't on the tallest ship.

"I bet. Good job," he sat, patting him on the back, making him flinch.

"Don't touch me."

"Uh, okay," he nodded, keeping his hands off. "Well, let's get-"

Crack!

A shot rang out and something yelled out behind them. They turned to see another one of the creatures writhing in the air, its head barely connected with one wire on the side. The group instinctively sent a burst into the creature, causing it to cease its movements. With that done, they looked around to the balcony where Killshot, Dead End, and Hook were at, the former using his sniper rifle. He gave a thumbs up at them as he continued to look around for any other creatures with Dead End acting as his spotter and Hook looking around for any creatures heading for them.

"Holy frag, how did they get out the elevator?" Misfire wondered.

"Irrelevant. Let's get Seaspray to the ship," Shockwave ordered.

"I'm moving," Seaspray told them as he jumped off and quickly made his way to the ship.

"Right behind you," Skywarp agreed, getting next to him as they made their way down. The two synchronized well, making sure to watch each other's back as they made the descent down.

"What should we do?" Scavenger asked.

"Watch them and make sure that nothing gets them. I'll watch behind us and Misfire, if you see anything, yell out so that they can actually shoot it," Shockwave ordered them. The two nodded and they went to work. Skywarp and Seaspray moved as quickly as they could, floating over to ship until they're able to reach the ship and avoid the creatures.

Crack!

Another sniper shot rang out and a creature to their right that they didn't see was left thrashing from the shot taking a piece of its body. More bullets from Scavenger came and finished the creature off. Seaspray nudged Skywarp and pointed to a creature to the left heading for them. The two of them took aim and fired, sending many bullets in it and taking it out. The two of them moved on to the ship and made their way to the top of the ship. "Right, moving to open the ship," Seaspray said, heading to the side and looking for the button to open the ship. After a few seconds, he noticed it and pressed it, letting the door slide open.

Choom! Choom!

He heard Skywarp's hand blasters go off and turned to see another creature in pain with blood coming out of it. He brought his rifle up and fired at it with him, causing much blood to spurt out and to leave it float in the air. "Right, I'm heading in!" he shouted heading inside.

"Right, we'll watch your exit! Don't screw us over!" he yelled at him as he closed the door behind him and made his way to the cockpit. He reached it quickly and took his place on the single seat available. He quickly played around with it, looking for a start button, and finding one after a couple of minutes. It didn't take long before he got the hang of it and started lifting the ship up off the ground. He did his best to keep it steady as he rose it up, making sure not to crash it into the other ships around him. Before long, he was above the ships and began guiding it to the exit, which appeared to be open. He didn't hesitate to drive it straight through, increasing his speed to get out as soon as he can and making his way out. The ship exited the station and he breathed a sigh of relief before grabbing a device and looking at it. He could honor his deal and turn the gravity back on, or activate the explosives and keep the gravity off until they get a new generator. He thought about it, thinking it through, before he decided.

He pressed the button to turn the gravity back on. No need to make them hate him more, Dreadwing was actually a respectful prison warden and he was an Autobot of his word. Plus, if it help to destroy the creatures, it was the least he could do.

After all, he set them loose on the ship.


	58. Airborne PT1

"Woah!" Wildrider yelled as he dodged a piece of debris coming for him. "What just happened?"

"Looks like the gravity has been turned back on," Dreadwing noticed as the rest of the debris came down, most of them landing harmlessly, barring a glass jar coming down on Nautilator and smashing against his head, making him yelp in pain and hold his head, energon trickling down from it.

"Seriously, of all the luck!?" Nautilator complained out loud.

"See Spinster about it," he ordered as he accessed his comms. Nautilator gave a groan of assent before heading back to the Med-Bay. Dreadwing ignored him as he waited for the person on the other side of the line.

" _Yeah_?" Swindle asked.

"Your group got the job done. Gravity's back online," Dreadwing informed him.

" _Oh, great… hey, shut up!_ "

"I'm sorry," he apologized.

" _Not you. Talking to someone else,_ " Swindle told him. " _I'm relaxing at the cockpit with several glasses of energon by my side._ "

"Oh, well, with the gravity back on, all we have to deal with is the monsters. Any ideas what to do?" he asked him.

" _I have no idea. I haven't been on the ship,_ " Swindle moaned.

"Right… well could you possibly ask your team about it then?" Dreadwing requested.

" _I will. Just let me relax a little bit. I really need it,_ " he told him, making Dreadwing frown at that.

"Swindle, we still have the monsters on the ship. I want these to be dealt with swiftly," Dreadwing reminded him.

" _Yeah, yeah, I know,_ " he scoffed. " _This has been very exciting._ "

"You've been safe in your ship. You don't know what it's like," he accused him.

" _Actually, I did have one on my ship that I had to kill,_ " Swindle told him. " _Totally got the jump on me and I had to cut that thing apart._ "

"Really? How?" Dreadwing questioned him.

" _Got snuck on board a while back. Quite dangerous,_ " he responded.

"Huh, those things are sneaky. Wildrider lost an arm to one of them," he recalled.

" _He did. How… tragic,_ " Swindle muttered, thinking things through. " _Hey, how is he doing?_ "

"He's his regular insane self. Why?" Dreadwing questioned him.

" _That's it. No hallucinations or anything like that?_ " he asked, sounding worried, slightly unnerving Dreadwing.

"No. None at all. Sealing his wound was quite difficult, but we managed it," he answered, keeping calm.

" _It wasn't the creatures then…,_ " Swindle muttered, surprised. Dreadwing was confused.

"What are you talking about? I can confirm that the monster ripped his arm off."

" _That's not what I'm talking about. Me and several people from my crew are suffering from hallucinations and bleeding from the optics,_ " he told him.

"What?! That's terrible. You need medical assistance now," Dreadwing ordered him.

" _That's not important right now. We need to figure out why. We thought it was contact with the creatures causing this, but if Wildrider's not feeling the effects, then something else must be causing it. The question is what?_ " Swindle wondered out loud.

"Well, all of those infected have to have something in common. Do you know any?"

" _The four infected were grouped together when they explored your station and encountered the creature first, so that's what I assumed, since I experienced an encounter with a creature on my ship too. But, since Wildrider isn't infected, it has to be something else._ "

"What did you do when you fought the creature?" Dreadwing questioned him.

" _I killed it. It was a bloody mess. Had to use a buzzsaw. Once that was done, I followed it's trailed to where it was stored in my cargo bay. That's all for my interaction with my creature,_ " Swindle told him.

"Hmm… what if it was the crate or something in it?" Dreadwing questioned him.

" _Huh?_ " Swindle asked. " _I didn't see anything in the crate… unless it was hidden in it._ "

"Hidden?"

" _Yeah… probably placed it in a secret hatch and use poison of some sort. Some poisons are airborne and takes a while to come into effect, which is why it didn't instantly feel it. The four of them must've encounter the crate holding the creature nearby. That has to be it! We weren't infected with a virus, the crates were laced with poison!_ " Swindle shouted, excited.

"You have to prove it first," Dreadwing reminded him.

" _I'll go ahead and do that… if I can walk around without smashing my head against every wall,_ " Swindle muttered.

"If that's the case, then send your crew over to me. We're in a safe room close to the bridge. It's well-barricaded and none of the creatures have gone in," he told him.

" _How far is it from the hanger?_ " Swindle asked him.

"Not too far. Just take the top most entrance and head to the front of the ship. They should be able to find us there," Dreadwing told him.

" _Great, I'll tell them about it. I'll see if I can make it to the cargo bay and get a good look around it, probably with a gas mask and closed vents this time,_ " Swindle told him.

"Alright, we'll be awaiting their arrival," Dreadwing told him. "One more thing."

" _Yeah?_ "

"Don't stress yourself out. You and your men have help us out enough as it is and we're thankful for it," he praised him.

" _No can do. I don't do half measures, although feel free to tell Megatron about my diligent work,_ " Swindle told him before getting off. Dreadwing gave a raised eyebrow before giving a soft chuckle. He had to give him credit, he was determined, even if he was foolish with his constant double-dealing. Good to see it actually being used to help the cause.

"What's going on?" Wildrider asked next to him.

"We're expecting company, including Dead End," Dreadwing informed him

"Oh, good to hear. It's always nice to see Deady," he smirked.

"I have no idea how you two get along," Dreadwing shook his head.

"I'll head to the barricade and watch for them. Do… whatever you wanna do. I'm so hyped!" Wildrider yelled as he ran on over to the barricade. Dreadwing shook his head in derision. Wildrider was always excited. It was a chore to handle him sometime. With Wildrider at the entrance, Dreadwing headed on back to Spinster and Nautilator. Inside, the two were naturally arguing due to Spinster's stupidity.

"You idiot, I'm bleeding!" Nautilator yelled at him, pointing at the trickling energon coming from his head.

"Well… it doesn't look that bad," Spinster droned on. "Maybe you should wait and let it auto-heal."

"It hurts you fragger!" They were also arguing because Nautilator had a low pain tolerance. Dumb and weak was a bad combo.

"It doesn't look that bad," Spinster murmured, looming at it dully before looking at the wall.

"Why the frag did Primus give such an utter dumbaft the hands of a surgeon?" Nautilator decried.

"A mystery we'll never know," Dreadwing said as he walked on over to them. "Is everything alright with the gravity back on?"

"Gravity? Oh, yeah, uh… maybe?" Spinster questioned him.

"The answer is yes, you dolt!" Nautilator yelled at him.

"Quit fighting. Spinster, go rest out front. I'll take care of Nautilator myself," Dreadwing ordered him.

"Sure," Spinster nodded before heading out.

"Oh, of course you would understand that!" Nautilator yelled at Spinster who merely walked out, nodding along to something in his head.

"Nautilator, please calm down," Dreadwing ordered him as he walked on over to some supplies and grabbed some malleable plastic. He went back to Nautilator and began applying a small amount to his trifling head wound.

"I swear, he's such a fragging idiot," Nautilator continued to complained.

"You know, he's right. The wound really isn't that bad. No danger of bleed-out. You could just let the auto-repair systems handle it, but I can see it really bothers you," Dreadwing informed him as Spinster spreads the plastic over the small wound.

"Maybe, but it still hurts," he whined.

"Come on. You've been shot, stabbed, and slashed. I'm sure you can handle a small wound to the head that amounts to nothing in the long term," he tried to comfort him.

"Maybe I'm overinflating how much it hurts, but I just don't like pain," he confessed.

"Get used to it. War is painful."

* * *

"Hey, Shockwave. With the gravity on, Dreadwing recommended that you meet back up with them near the bridge. Take the topmost entrance and head to the front," Swindle told him over the comms as he walked to the storage room where he encountered the creature, trying to peer over the top of his bandages.

" _Understood. Best not to stay out in the open,_ " Shockwave agreed.

"Also, we've got another problem. I don't think the creatures are things responsible for the bleeding optics and hallucinations," Swindle informed him.

" _What? Doesn't it makes the most sense?_ " he questioned, confused.

"A member of Dreadwing's group has been damaged by the creatures and hasn't experience any of the side effects the others have been showing," Swindle told him.

" _Then what could it be?_ " Shockwave asked.

"I have an idea, but I need to check it out first," he said. "I'm thinking it was the crates that they were transported in that's infected."

" _The crates?_ "

"Yeah. I'm guessing that when your group split up, Killshot's group accidently ran into it and got infected."

" _Hmm, interesting,_ " he muttered. " _We'll have to find some way to confirm it._ "

"Working on it. Just regroup with Dreadwing while I figure things out," Swindle told him.

" _Fine. I'll trust you with this. If you need help with the technical side of things, don't be afraid to contact me,_ " Shockwave told him.

"Got it. Good luck," Swindle said as he got off and enter the storage room with the dead creature in it. The room was still a mess, the purple liquid still around the room, beginning to dry and stain the area. He walked over the body of the creature and went to the boxes to search through them, starting with the labels. It didn't take long before he found some masks and searched through it to find a black facemask to use. A lot of mechs have built in facemasks if they were built for combat, like his entire gestalt, but Swindle wasn't one and he didn't feel like going under the knife for one. He attached it and then made sure to close all vents on him before he went out. It was very hard to get it on, having to adjust the bandages to place them on the front to let the mask attach and close it all off. With that done, he headed on out, walking carefully through the hallway. His vision was a bit handicapped and he had to be a bit more careful, accidently banging his foot against the wall a couple of times.

After a little while, he reached the elevator and pressed the button. In a couple of seconds, the elevator had arrived and he entered it and pressed the button to the cargo bay. The door closed and the elevator went down quietly. It wasn't long before it halted and the elevator opened back up. He walked out and turned his attention to the ripped open crate. He stridden over to it and looked inside. As he expected, the scratch marks and dried purple blood were still all around the crate, evident of the creature trying to escape from the place. He stepped on inside for the first time and started feeling around for anything. The left side was completely fine and smooth, so nothing there. He searched the right side and noticed the bottom corner slightly pushed compared to the other corner. He bent down and felt around the corner, trying to see if it was a secret compartment or a result of the creature trying to escape. He felt around it and felt a slight opening, allowing him to dig his fingers in and pull on it. As he hoped for, it opened up and revealed a secret compartment. Inside was a small opening with a glass bottle inside it with yellow liquid filling in about a 9/10. The cap on top was on tight and appeared to be a device to turn the liquid into air with two small slits on either side.

Swindle gave a slight yelp of victory as he grabbed it and closed the two slits that let the air out of it. His hypothesis, with a little help from Dreadwing to get the CPU working, was right. Gutcruncher did put a poison in the crate. Crafty slagger. There was a reason Swindle simultaneously loathe and respected him. Mostly the former considering he had a habit of using his crafty tactics on Swindle.

Now, how was he going to vent this scrap from his ship?


	59. Airborne PT 2

"Is the area clear?" Shockwave asked as the group got back together near the topmost entrance. Killshot surveyed the area really quickly and answered.

"Looks like it. Can confirm eleven dead," he told him. "Although, considering their love for ambushes, don't take it to spark."

"Understood," he said. "Now, Swindle suggested that we head to the front of the ship at the bridge where Dreadwing's group is and regroup with them."

"Sounds like a good idea," Hook acknowledged. "These things like attacking small groups, so I imagine they'll stay away from big ones."

"I don't know. Out group isn't exactly the most combat orientated," Killshot said as he glanced over to Scavenger and Misfire.

"Regardless of their worth in combat, they'll stay away from numbers like ours," he said, earning a sigh from Scavenger.

"Thanks for sticking up for me," he muttered sarcastically and Hook rolled his optics at that. Remember, be more supportive of your klutz of an assistant and don't ostracize him. You kind of need him to be your faithful assistant.

"I'm sorry, Scavenger. I've seen you out in the field and you are extremely capable. At the very least, you're better than Misfire," Hook told him, which earn a scoff from the jet.

"You're not serious, are you?" he questioned, crossing his arms. "I mean, I'm not the best shot, but I'm sur-"

"No, now shut up," Hook quickly interrupted, silencing him. "The only thing you're good for is bait."

"Hmph, good put down," Skywarp congratulated, smirking. He always liked people who could dish out insults.

"Oh, trust me, I got something mean to say about everyone. Nothing special," Hook muttered.

"Because you're a prick," Killshot said as he continued to examine the area just to make sure nothing was around.

"No, it's because you're all screwed up in your own way."

"Glass houses," Dead End muttered as he was checking his pistol from Killshot.

"Don't get me started on you, you cynical fragger," Hook muttered.

"Least I'm not a hypocrite," he replied, making him scowl at that.

"Alright, you fragging-"

*Bang*

He didn't finished his sentence as Killshot took a shot with his rifle and something yelled out. "Got it, sneaky slagger," Killshot cheered as they looked out to see another creature writhing on the ground, screaming in agony at one of its arms being shot off. It didn't last long as he fired two more shots to its head and body, silencing it. "Right, I think we should head out. Best to find Dreadwing's group so we can figure out how to finish these things off for good."

"He is correct. We have no time for petty squabbling," Shockwave told them.

"Hmph… you're right. Sorry, everyone," Hook apologized and Killshot had to look at him with a raised eyebrow at that. Hook apologizing was a rare and wonderful occurrence.

"Let's go," Shockwave said as he opened the door and headed inside, his arm cannon leading the way with the rest trailing behind them. Killshot put his sniper rifle back up and draw the assault rifle out as Dead End approached him.

"Hey, what do you want?" he questioned.

"I would like my rifle back," he said as he offered Killshot's pistol. Killshot looked surprised as he stared at his gut, the place where he was shot still visible. "I'm fine now. Better than your arm at least." Killshot knew he had a point, as his shoulder was still aching from when the creature impaled it, but it wasn't like Dead End was any better. He doesn't have a self-repair system, so that wound of his hasn't healed yet.

"Alright, but if you're unable to do it, give it back to me," he said as he swapped out the rifle for his pistol.

"Understood," Dead End grunted as the two of them checked their guns and followed the others.

* * *

Swindle walked into the cockpit with the glass bottle locked in a metal container in an effort to make sure the deadly gas doesn't come out to the rest of the ship and bandages back to normal so it didn't bleed out too much. Of course, the main thing he had to worry about was cleansing the cargo bay of the toxic substance. He might have something in the storage rooms, but that would take a while to search through and he would have to do that after the problem of the creatures was dealt with. He took a seat and tried contacting Dreadwing, who answered quickly. " _Yes?_ " Dreadwing asked.

"I was right. Found a canister in the crate hidden in a hollow corner," Swindle reported to him.

" _Good work. Your group hasn't arrived yet, but we've haven't given enough time for them to arrive. They have to be careful while traversing the Retaliator,_ " he informed him.

"Yeah. Can't imagine what it's like being on the ship," the salesmech muttered.

" _Do you know what it is that's poisoning the air here?_ " Dreadwing questioned him, interested.

"Can't say I do. Only thing I know is that it's a yellow liquid that was evaporated to become airborne and spread around the area," Swindle told him. "I have no idea whether it's something you can buy or a custom-made pathogen. It's something I'll have Shockwave analyze at when he has time."

" _Good to hear, but if the air is filled with it, I don't want any of my soldiers infected with it,_ " Dreadwing told him and Swindle had to give a little humph at that. Dreadwing always cared about his men first. It reminded him too much of Onslaught's overbearingness.

"Do you have a way to purge the station?" Swindle questioned him.

" _I don't know. We never anticipated an airborne attack from an infectious disease,_ " Dreadwing told him. " _I'll have to find an information datapad on the ship. Should be one around here somewhere._ "

"Good. I have to find a way to vent the air from the cargo hold," Swindle muttered.

" _Swindle, I've been thinking, why hasn't the gas infected us?_ " Dreadwing questioned him.

"Huh?"

" _I mean, if it's a gas, then it should be able to spread around freely. Why haven't we been affected yet?_ " Dreadwing questioned him and that got Swindle thinking. He had a point. Why haven't Dreadwing's group been affected despite the gas being free for quite a while now? It should've reached him by now and infected him. He sat back and think things through. It hasn't reached Dreadwing yet, which meant something was up about it. What could help him figure out what it was? It was yellow, but that didn't particularly meant anything. Any sort of chemical reaction can do that. So if he couldn't get anything from the chemical, than what about the container? It evaporated the liquid into a gas to spread it around. When he found it, there was about 9/10 of the original amount remaining, which meant it did it slowly. That meant...

"The gas has a short lifespan," Swindle said, figuring it out.

" _Come again? The gas has a short lifespan? What does that mean?_ " Dreadwing questioned him.

"The container transformed an amount of the liquid to the gas extremely slowly. Why would it do that unless the gas have a short lifespan," Swindle told him.

" _So, if we find the container and close it, the gas would dispel soon after and cleanse the area,_ " Dreadwing questioned him.

"Bingo. I have no idea how long the gas lasts, but it must break apart sooner or later," Swindle confirmed to him.

" _And if the gas goes away, then the infection might die off naturally,_ " he realized. " _The gas must be used for assassinations. Place it in the vicinity of the target and the infection will kill them sooner or later as they have no idea what's wrong with them._ "

"Clever. I wonder where Gutcruncher got it?" Swindle wondered.

" _Have you confirm it's Gutcruncher?_ " Dreadwing asked him.

"Order of elimination. I don't have any direct proof, but he's the only one with the means to do so," he told him, sounding confident.

" _If that's true, then what's his motive for doing all of this?_ " Dreadwing questioned him and Swindle was actually stumped at that.

"I can give a motive for me, but not for you. Have you ever had a bad encounter with him?" Swindle asked him.

" _Of course not. I treat everyone with respect. He has no reason to do this to me,_ " Dreadwing informed him and Swindle was left confused. He had to be the one to do it, that much is true but his motivation are completely unknown. This was frustrating.

"I don't know, but let's assume that Gutcruncher is getting something out of this. Things between me and him are personal and possibly financial, but he's generally alright with everyone else. Probably getting some money or rare items of some sort out of this," Swindle told him.

" _If you say so, but I won't accuse Gutcruncher of the crime without some definite proof that he's the one behind it,_ " Dreadwing informed him and Swindle had to sigh at annoyance at that. He always had a tendency to believe in the best of people rather than the worst. It makes him a good commander, but really bad at figuring out when someone was trying to kill him. " _You may report to Megatron that Gutcruncher is the one to do this, but I will report to Megatron as well to disagree with your claim._ "

"Grr… fine," Swindle muttered. "I won't blame Gutcruncher until I have definite proof."

" _Good. I hope you do find out whether he's the one who did it or not,_ " Dreadwing told him. " _Until then, I'll contact you once again when your groups gets here._ "

"Alright. Good luck," Swindle told him.

" _Same for you,_ " Dreadwing told him as he got off and Swindle bent over in annoyance. With Dreadwing interfering, he can't get intense, highly needed revenge on Gutcruncher for doing all this. It wasn't a question of whether or not he did it, but what proves he's the one who did it. That was going to be a pain in the aft to find out and until he does, he might as well attempt a friendly façade whenever he encounters him. He still owes him 30% of his profits from the space station.

* * *

**Talos Four, City 17, Periphery Heights, Moscow Hotel**

"Welcome," Whiteout said to two bots come in, one of which he recognized. "Bombline, backed so soon?" he questioned him, intrigued.

"Yeah, things happen," he said as he took the lead, placing his arms on the counter while Corpsegrinder hung back. "We're looking for someone by the name of Flame to help us out."

"Oh, yes, him and a fellow named Chromedome have a room at 1304," he told them. "Will you be checking in for the night?"

"We'll see. Let's go, Corpsegrinder," he told him as the two moved over to the elevator and pressed the button to head up. The elevator opened immediately and the two walked in he pressed the 13 button, sending the elevator up.

"Ugh, I don't feel good about this," Corpsegrinder muttered.

"Why? He's an Autobot, right?" Bombline questioned him.

"Yeah, but he's not very sane or moral," he explained. "I never quite understood why he joined the Autobots, but he did. I think he's taken part in a few underground experiments for the Autobots. Not many know what he and the rest did, but one can assume they were unethical."

"Did Optimus Prime approved of them?"

"What makes you think he knew about them?" he questioned and Bombline realized that the chain of command can get broken quite easily there.

"Huh, the Autobots are a lot more fractured than I thought," he muttered.

"Especially with them on the run," he muttered as the elevator opened up and the two of them walked out.

"The Autobots have an embassy here, right?" he asked him.

"Yes, although they're not well-liked and I'm not welcome over their either," he said as they reached the door and knocked on it. After a few seconds, the door opened up to reveal Chromedome looking at the pair oddly.

"Hey there… and you are?" he questioned them.

"Bombline and this is Corpsegrinder," the sniper led the exchange.

"Oh, Corpsegrinder. Come on in," he said as he moved out of the way to let them in. The two of them strolled on in as Chromedome closed the door behind them and they entered to see Flame sitting on a chair, reading a datapad. He looked up to the new guests and gave a smirk.

"Corpseginder. Haven't seen you in person in a while," he said, setting the datapad aside and standing up. "How long has it been?"

"Since Devola," he answer and Flame had to frown at that.

"Yes, I believe so," he muttered. "A tragedy that was."

"Way to understate it," Corpsegrinder muttered. "Now, are you capable of joining us on this journey?"

"Yes, I'm certainly am," he replied, crossing his arms confidently. "I assure you no one is a better scientist on that ship of yours," he bragged.

"Just don't talk about what you've done. They might not like some of the things you've done," Corpsegrinder told him.

"Humph, some people can't understand that science has to move forward. We can't be bound by morality," he told him.

"He's right. Because of him, Rewind is still alive," he told them.

"I'm sorry, but who are you?" Bombline asked.

"Oh, I'm Chromedome. Mnemosurgeon," he told them.

"Alright. Just don't mess around inside of my mind," he said, tapping on his head for emphasis.

"And who's Rewind?" Corpsegrinder asked.

"He's my conjunx endura. He's an archivist. Likes to record things," he told them.

"Oh, where is he?" Bombline asked.

"He's on the ship, resting," Flame said, sounding a bit nervous. "I need to talk to you about him, Corpsegrinder. He's going to need a special place."

"Well, Bombline, take Chromedome out for a walk in the hall," he told him.

"Sure thing. Come on, Chromedome," he said and the conjunx endura followed him out of the room.

"So, why does Rewind need a room for himself," he asked him.

"Look, we uncovered something called dark energon," Flame began. "It has many strange quality, one of those being the ability to bring the dead back to life."

"Come again?" Corpsegrinder asked angrily. "You think of yourself as Primus?"

"Look, it isn't perfect," he told him. "The person is reduced to a mindless, feral state, craving energon whenever it can, preferable from the body of cybertronians. It will ignore someone if they inject dark energon into themselves."

"Flame, this isn't sounding very good. At all," he growled, crossing his arms in contempt.

"Look, just give a Rewind a room for himself that is locked and no one can enter. We don't want any accidental casualty," he told him.

"Can the thing you describe even be called Rewind? It sounds like a monster," the pirate accused him, sticking his finger on his chest.

"Don't stick your finger at me," he said, pushing him off. "As for Rewind, I don't consider him a sentient being, but Chromedome sure does. That mess is clinging to anything in the vain hope of still having his conjunx endura."

"You need to confront him about this. He can't keep acting like this," Corpsegrinder told him.

"I can't do that. I may be able to bring Rewind back to his normal self. Just give me a few years of research. Besides, he's a good test subject," the scientist told him with a grin.

"Of course that's the reason you're keeping him," the captain said with a hand on his head in annoyance. "Alright, I'll keep him. Just don't let him harm the crew, you got that."

"Understood. I'll make sure him and Chromedome are well-behaved," he said with a little bow.

"You better. I don't want any loose cannons or screws on my ship," Corpsegrinder growled. "Now, I'm heading back to the ship. Come over there in the morning."

"Understood. Trust me, my expertise will be valuable to your cause."


	60. Airborne PT 3

"Is that the bridge?" Skywarp questioned as they saw a door at the end of a short hallway. They had spent the past 20 cycles and they had encounter only one creature so far, so it was pretty safe, even if it was filled with tension. The one creature was only spotted because they took it slow and Killshot was able to spot it and kill it with help from Hook, which was perhaps the only moment the two could like each other.

"It appears so, but weapons up. We're not there yet," Dead End reminded him.

"Right," Skywarp nodded as the group approached the thing as slowly as possible, paying particular attention to the ceiling panels. There wasn't any other doors in the hallway, so that was where they had to keep most of their attention on. After a minute, they crossed the hall and Shockwave rapped his fist against the door.

"Who the frag is it?" a voice asked and Dead End was the one that responded.

"It's us, Wildrider," he answered, already sounding annoyed.

"Oh, Deady!" he cheered and Dead End was already shaking his head. They heard the sound of a lot of stuff moving before the door opened up to show Wildrider with a squad of Vehicons backing him. "Hey, Deady and friends," he greeted them with a wave of the hand. "Welcome to the official 'place that will not get you killed' zone. Come on in."

"With pleasure," he muttered as the group quickly entered the area and Wildrider the door closed and barricaded. Dreadwing emerged from the makeshift medical center and approached the group.

"Welcome. If you need medical assistance, Spinster will try his best to help you," he said to them.

"Aside from the virus, we are all in satisfactory shape," Shockwave answered to him.

"Yes. We'll have to take care of that, although I don't see you bleeding much anymore," he told them and the one who were bleeding checked it to see that he was right. It had slowed down to a drop a few seconds now.

"Looks like the hole we drilled is being patched up," Hook murmured. "Now why is that?"

"I think I can tell you that. Me and Swindle have determined that the poison has a short life and a short range," he told them.

"Really? Explain how you know this?" Shockwave questioned him and Dreadwing explained to them about the gas canisters that Swindle found on his ship. "Hmm, interesting."

"So, if we find the crate where the creatures come from, we'll find the canisters and we can take care of that problem," Killshot figured out.

"Correct. After that, I think we can handle the clean-up," Dreadwing told them. "You've helped us enough and I'm grateful for that. I've contacted Megatron through makeshift channels and he agreed to send reinforcements over to handle the creatures."

"So if we can take care of those gas canisters, we can head on out," Scavenger summarized what he said.

"Exactly. I recommend you rearmed on whatever weapons you can find here. We don't have that much, but I sure it can help you out. I believe we've stored gas masks in the medical center if you need something to block the gas when you encounter it," he told them.

"Thanks. You are very helpful," Hook praised him in a genuine tone, which continued to surprise Killshot, but he had to nod in agreement. Dreadwing was a very courteous and helpful person, which made him a good leader in his optics. Certainly a far sight better than Swindle. Probably pay significantly less though, which was an unfortunate deal breaker.

"Good. If you want to relax a bit before heading out, do so. You've been so busy that I think you need it," Dreadwing told them.

"We will take as long as we need," Shockwave told him.

"Right, now, if you excuse me, I need to read up some documents I have laying around. Need some information to look up," he told them as he left to the head of the bridge. The seven of them went over to a clear section of the bridge and began discussing with each other there.

"Right, do we want to send all of us out there?" Killshot asked them.

"I wouldn't recommend it," Shockwave said. "I would suggest sending a small unit down there, probably four will do."

"Right. Just find me a shotgun of some sort and I'll head down, no problem," he replied.

"I'll head down as I am," Dead End nodded.

"Guess I'll help as well. Just let me drink a bunch of energon first before we head out. Need to refuel my warp generators," Skywarp told them.

"That's three. Anyone want to be the forth?" Killshot asked them.

"I would recommend Hook and Scavenger stay behind and take care around here. Some of Vehicons don't looked to be in the best of shape," Shockwave recommended and while most of the Vehicons did look alright, a few of them were dealing with injuries and waiting outside the medical center.

"Fine, we'll help them. Help put the pressure off the other medical workers, however many there are," Hook agreed with Scavenger nodding his head in agreement.

"And Misfire can stay here. He might not be the best to have against these creatures," Killshot recommended.

"Agreed. Incompetence is not recommended," Dead End aligned with the sniper, making Misfire crossed his arm in annoyance before shrugging it off.

"Fine. Means I'm not the one who possibly gets munched on by whatever the frag you call those creatures," he told them with a smirk.

"Yep. Be glad you suck at combat," Killshot remarked before turning to Shockwave. "So, that leaves you. You're coming?"

"I think I'll stay here and do some research. I might find something here to lead us to who brought the creatures here or how the gas works," he responded to them.

"Well, great. Who's going to be our fourth?" Skywarp asked.

"Oh, I'll do it!" they heard someone yelled as Wildrider came out and wrapped his singular arm around Dead End, making him scrunch up his face in annoyance. "It'll be fun. We've haven't done anything in a long time, Deady."

"Uh, you only have one arm," Misfire pointed out the obvious.

"Still better than you," Dead End remarked.

"Aw, thanks Deady," Wildrider thanked as he pulled him closer with his right arm, continuing to displease him.

"Far more annoying, though," he added.

"Well, if he's coming along, I guess that rounds up to four," Killshot shrugged.

"Sweet! Ready to go when you are," he told them as he let go of Dead End (much to his relief) and went back to the entrance.

"Well, Scavenger, let's go assist the medic, whomever they are," Hook ordered and he nodded, following him to the makeshift medical center.

"And I'll be not getting munched on by terrifying creatures. Have fun!" Misfire mocked as he ran off.

"I will began my research. Do be careful while you are out there," Shockwave told them as he walked off to the cockpit where Dreadwing was.

"Well, this is going to be a lot of fun," Skywarp muttered. "I'm getting really tired of this frag-ugly creatures and go after the fragger who killed Thundercracker."

"Yeah. I'm getting tired of these creatures as well. Much prefer people shooting at us," Killshot agreed. "At least I know I'm better than the enemy at that."

"We will get to them in due time," Dead End assured them. "First we need to take care of the gas. We need preferred weapons for the area and gas masks. Let's go get them."

* * *

"You know, I'm fading," Brawl said to Swindle as the two of them were sitting in the cockpit together. Indeed, he was becoming more transparent as time went on.

"Good. I'm tired of hallucinations," Swindle muttered as he relaxed in his seat, the glass container in his lap.

"Hmm… so, you still think about our attack on Solaris?" Brawl questioned him.

"Every now and then," he answered. "Been giving it a bit of thought recently."

"What part on you on now?" Brawl asked him.

"Sneaking into the place. The start of the attack. The Stunticons have just started their part of the assault…"

* * *

" _This place smells atrocious," Blast Off murmured as they were walking through the sewers, the dark liquid splashing below their feet. The Stunticons were engaging the front of the place, so the back area had less people there. Unfortunately, not as many as they hoped and they filled the gaps with autonomous sentry guns. So, they had to modify their plans. They were still going to pierce the back of the city, but instead of just heading straight through unopposed, the five of them will have to go through the sewers to reach the back and find the panel to deactivate the turrets so that the vehicons can start charging the back as well. And of course, the first to complain would be Blast Off._

" _Better than walking a few steps and getting shredded," Brawl told him._

" _True," Blast Off agree as they were nearing an opening. The five of them went through the opening to find a small room with three different ways to go._

" _Swindle, which way?" Onslaught questioned him, as he was the one with the map for the sewers._

" _Heading straight leads us downward to even lower levels, but left and right both leads to the same room, so either would do," he informed them._

" _Right, Brawl, on me. We're taking left. Vortex, take the right with the others," Onslaught ordered._

" _Understood. See you soon," Vortex said as they split up. The three walked through the area quickly, making small chatter as they did so. "Scrap, you're right. This place stinks," he muttered as they went through the tunnel and were nearing a turn to the left._

" _Glad to see you understand as well," Blast Off said._

" _Guys, we might want to be quiet. They may have left some goons around the area," Swindle whispered to them._

" _Right, right, low tones," Vortex nodded as he peaked around the turn. "All clear," he said as they made the turn. This tunnel had a few other tunnels heading right, but they were heading to the end of the tunnel._

" _Tell me, Swindle, how is the EMP bomb?" Blast Off questioned. Said bomb was strapped to Swindle's back thanks to the magnet._

" _I haven't tested it, but it should work," Swindle told him. "I'm really good at building stuff, you know."_

" _Yeah, Blast Off. Give Swindle more credit," Vortex told him._

" _I don't see you giving him much respect," Blast Off murmured._

" _Oh, relax. I respect him a lot more than you." Of the relationship amongst everyone in the group, the one between Vortex and Blast Off had the most animosity and Swindle didn't quite know why. Maybe one other flyer was too much for them. Maybe Vortex really hated people like Blast Off and vice versa. Or a person with sociopathic traits (Vortex) doesn't get along with someone with psychopathic traits (Blast Off). Either way, the two don't get along and Swindle just had to mediate between them before they get in a fight of some sort._

" _Hey, hey, calm down now. We on a mission," Swindle reminded them._

" _Oh, I'm sure a short beatdown is a detour worth going for," he told him, glaring at Blast Off._

" _A bullet to the brain is an even faster detour," Blast Off remarked._

" _Look, guys, can you fight back at base? We got a training room for just such an occasion," Swindle told them._

" _If Vortex agrees to it, then so be it," Blast Off agreed to the planned fight._

" _Sure. Gives me some time to properly figure out how to get your aft on the ground and begging for mercy," Vortex agreed._

" _Great. Now quiet. We're approaching the room," Swindle reminded them of the job and indeed they were nearing the area. The three approached the area quietly and looked out. The room was a large one, split into two halves. The first half was multiple walls helping to split the water up and send through many tunnels and rains with a couple of ladders leading to catwalks above them. The second half could only be reached by four ladders to a dry area that had tables, beds, and such for people around the area. Oh yeah, there were guards there as well as, determining from the soft patter of liquid, in the maze like area as well. In the center of the dry area was a ladder heading up to a manhole._

" _Aw, frag," Vortex murmured. "Guards everywhere and the way out is surrounded by them."_

" _Soldiers, we have a problem," Onslaught mentioned on the line._

" _We know," Vortex told him. "How are we going to take care of them?"_

" _Well, we're going to have to use stealth to take out the ones in the maze. After that, we'll assault the one on dry land," Onslaught told them._

" _We'll need to get me to the catwalks to provide sniper support and to mark targets," Blast Off told them._

" _Understood. Vortex, get Blast Off to the ladder as soon as possible," he ordered him._

" _Right. I can do that," Vortex nodded._

" _Good. Head on out," Onslaught said as he signed off._

" _Just great," Vortex mummed as he pulled a large, double-bladed knife out. "Follow me. I'll make sure nothing hurts you two. That's my job," he told them as he started walking through the area with the other two following along. They tried their best to listen to the patter of everyone else's footstep. They started off taking a left towards the ladder, which was in clear view. Vortex examined every opening to make sure one of the guards wasn't nearing them. As they near the last one, one of the patters was growing ladder and Vortex waited for the guard to come into view. After a few seconds, the guard, and brown-and-blue mech, walked out, his head turning the other way. Vortex took advantage of that and quickly stabbed him in the neck right into his voice modules and making him gag as he grabbed a hold of him and pressed him against the wall. He ripped the knife out through the left side of his neck, spilling energon, before quickly using his knife to stab him in the chest where his spark should've been before slicing at the other side, leaving a good view of the spinal strut. The guard gave a few last dying gasps before sliding against the wall and collapsing on his side, the liquid covering half his face._

" _Good work," Blast Off complimented as he approached the ladder and grabbed a hold of it. "Swindle, on me. I need a spotter."_

" _Right, got it," he said as he followed him up the catwalk, trying to do so as quietly as possible by making the ladder not clang as much as possible. After a minute, the two were at the top catwalk and Blast Off pulled out his sniper rifle and a scope for Swindle. Swindle noticed that the catwalk they were on had a zipline for an easy way to the platform. They could use that once the guards were all dead. Blast Off examined the maze-like area for enemies._

" _I count five guards left," he announced over the comms. "Onslaught, there's one coming from the left entrance," he told him and Swindle examine him quickly jam a knife through a femme's forehead before stabbing her through the neck and the spark. This continued on for another couple of minutes as he guided Vortex and Onslaught around the maze to hunt them down and kill them. Brawl was still at the entrance him and Onslaught were. He didn't do stealth, so he let them take care of this. When Blast Off and Swindle confirmed that they were all dead, Brawl left the area and met up with Onslaught and Vortex at the ladder to the dry land above._

" _How many are up there?" Onslaught asked Blast Off and him and Swindle quickly counted and mark them._

" _I count 11. Swindle?" Blast Off asked his spotter for confirmation._

" _Same," he answered._

" _Any cover we can use up there?" Onslaught questioned._

" _The columns are the only thing I see once you exit the ladder," Blast Off told him. "After that, you can use whatever you find."_

" _Alright then. Everyone, get ready. This one is going to be pretty intense," he told them. Blast Off looked around as the three climbed up to the top of the ladders, Brawl to the left, Onslaught to the middle, and Vortex on the right, and peeked to look at what was around them. After a minute, Onslaught muttered something to Blast Off. "On your go."_

" _Understood," Blast Off said as he took aim at the one nearest to the ladder and aimed it at his head. "Go." He fired and the mech's head exploded, sending the body tumbling to the ground. There was confusion among the guard as the three on the ladder climbed up and fired at the enemy as they took cover behind the column, one of them hitting the guards with a few too many bullets to the chest and collapsed to the ground, unmoving._

" _One's running, on the left," Swindle said and Blast Off took aim at the guard who appeared to be running off, probably to get reinforcement and send a shot through his chest, making a large hole where his spark was as he collapsed to the ground. "Good kill."_

" _Very much so," he muttered as he looked around the battlefield again. He saw one of the guards hiding behind a column with his leg barely sticking out and Blast Off took aim at it, blasting the side of his lower leg off and making him fall out of cover, exposing him to both Onslaught and Brawl as they filled him with bullets._

" _Someone's flanking Vortex," Swindle said to Blast Off and he swung around over there to one of the having took aim at Vortex and was about to fire before Blast Off put an end to that, sending him to the ground with the right side of his head blown off. "He won't be getting back up."_

" _Good," Blast Off murmured as he looked around the battlefield. The fight was now much more evened as six bodies litter the battlefield as the other four kept firing at his gestaltmate._

_Wait, four…_

" _Duck!" Swindle yelled as he grabbed a hold of him and pulled him down, dodging a bullet that was meant for them. "Countersniper! At the back to the left," he told him._

" _Understood," Blast Off murmured as he popped back up to take aim around the area. To his surprise, he didn't see him over there._

" _He shifted positions! Center, behind a bed," he told him and Blast Off moved to see him aiming in their direction. He fired quickly without aiming properly and looked back to see him gone._

" _Hit, but I don't think it's a kill. Hit him in the side," Swindle told him._

" _I'll take care of that," he murmured. "Just keep looking for him." He looked around, trying to find the sniper, wherever he was. He couldn't avoid him for long._

" _He running to the right," Swindle told him and Blast Off shifted his view over to the right. Indeed, he could see him running, all crouched and holding to his side to prevent energon-loss. Blast Off took careful aim and fired, sending the bulled straight to his neck and left hanging by cables as he collapsed to the ground. With that, the place quiet as he looked around the area to see eleven bodies, none of them his gestaltmates. "All clear," Swindle murmured._

" _Looks like it. Come on down," Onslaught ordered and the two quickly moved, Blast Off holstering his rifle and taking his scope back. The two went on to the zipline and ride it on down one at a time to the dry land. The five of them meet up at the ladder. "Alright, this ladder should take us up to the back end of the city. Everyone ready?" he asked them. Everyone gave varied replies of yes. "Alright. Let's go. Remember, first order of business is taking those sentries out so that we can get in. Blast Off, find the tallest building and provide sniper support."_

" _Got it."_

" _Rest of us, we'll have to attack the boundaries and find the panel to turn them off. Once that's down, we can get some fire support," Onslaught told them. "Now, let's get going."_

* * *

"It was all going according to plan, but the best laid plans are useless once disaster happens," Swindle muttered. "Things started falling apart and you died. It was all my fault. I'm sorry." He turned to see Brawl not there anymore, the figment of his imagination gone. "For everything."


	61. Cleansing The Air PT 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The assault team prepares to leave as Misfire queries Shockwave about his own memories.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Huzzah! We have a update! Enjoy it. Sorry this took a long time. I got a bit too involve with Despair and wrote a whole bunch of chapters for it in a mad groove.

“Got a shotty,” Killshot said as he examine the weapons with his assault squad and found a shotgun with an angular design in red-and-purple colors. “Looks like a Terkis. Semi-auto with a cylinder magazine with twelve shells that has to be hand-loaded,” he said with admiration, followed by unearthing a belt full of shells. “Oh sweet Primus, Gifter’s Day came early.”

“Don’t know why you like using ballistic weaponry. Lasers are far better,” Skywarp chided him as he showed off his internal blasters on his arms.

“They’re really good at ripping people apart, especially these shotguns,” he said as he checked the drum to see no shells in it and went to work placing shells in it. “The shells in them shoot out twenty pellets and has a pretty decent range with a pretty right spread. Not buckshot level spread, but still alright and certainly tighter than the scattershot.”

“You know your guns pretty well,” Dead End noticed as he was busy looking for the gas masks or any mods for his rifle.

“Live with Swindle for too long, you start to learn the lingo and the inventory,” Killshot told them as he finished loading it.

“I think that might actually be something worth learning. Can you tell me what this is called?” Wildrider said as he showed off a machine pistol in his remaining arm, being very blocky looking with a grey finish.

“I think that’s called the Trayus pistol, named after its creator. It’s fully automatic, fires lasers, and doesn’t uses a magazine as it uses an energy generator that can overheat if fired too long without any breaks,” he told him.

“I knew there was a good reason I got it! Reloading a gun is hard without an arm,” he said as he looked at his stump with despair. “I killed a lot of people with that arm. A shame.”

“Poor you,” Skywarp muttered uncaringly. “I lost an arm, took several pieces of shrapnel, and got a dead trinemate. Wanna trade places?” he questioned sarcastically.

“Oh, that sounds like wonderful pain. I’ll consider it,” he nodded, dumbfounding the seeker.

“There’s something wrong with you. Just saying,” he told him.

“Aw, thanks for the compliment,” he thanked him.

“Found the gas masks,” Dead End told them as he pulled out an old, rustic looking metal box and placed it on a table. He pulled it out to reveal simple, black metal mask that were adjustable to fit a wide variety of faces.

“Geez, these are some old scraps,” Killshot said as he grabbed one and examined them. “I remember why they were phased out for force-field generators.”

“This station is basically a relic that’s gone through several refurbishes and upgrades, but it still has plenty of the old tech around. I heard it’s been around since the old war,” Wildrider told them.

“That old?” he gawked. “Frag, how is this thing even still operational.”

“I don’t know,” he shrugged. “It’s still operational, so we use it.”

“Nice, simple, and reasonable. Those rare moments of clarity from you are what I _live_ for,” Dead End remarked.

“Thanks, Deady,” he thanked followed by giving him a one-arm hug, making the cynic sigh.

“Let me go, Wildrider. You need two hands to place the mask on you,” he offered a logical reason.

"Aw, but I like you!" Wildrider responded.

“Did I forget to mention I’m sick?” Dead End lied.

“Ah!” Wildrider yelled as he jumped back “Stay away from me.”

“I want to, but I always come back to you for some reason,” he remarked with despair.

“Are you two related or something? You two act like a couple of split-spark twins,” Skywarp asked them, amused.

“We’re just gestaltmates. Nothing else,” Dead End told them, crossing his arms. “In normal circumstances, I wouldn’t even be associated with this nut job.”

“Come on, Deady. You like my shenanigans,” he told him with a demented smirk.

“No.”

“May I point something out,” Killshot said.

“Yes?” Dead End questioned.

“How are we going to prevent the gas from entering your bullet wound,” he pointed out and caused him to flinch as he looked down at his sloppily-patched bullet wound. The gas only needs one opening to get into his systems and this was enough for it to do so.

“Not to mention you shoulder wound,” Skywarp pointed out to Killshot.

“Yeah, there is that,” he agreed as he looked at it, being patched up by Hook’s welder, but still having small openings for the gas to pass through. That’s what happens when you’re patched up in the field and not in an official way. “It’s healing up, but it might still be able to enter it.”

“You could just bandaged it up like Spinster did to my arm,” Wildrider pointed out his stump.

“That… could work. Frag, I bet he can even coat our wounds with anti-bacterial gel. Who knows what techno-pathogens that could be in the area that we’ve picked up,” Killshot pointed out.

“Well then, we can do that,” Dead End agreed as he grabbed a gas mask and affixed it to his face and adjusted it to make sure it fitted just fine. “There. Just fine,” he said through a filtered voice.

“Sweet. Now can someone not sick put a mask on me?” Wildrider asked the group.

* * *

 

“Those are some excellent hands,” Hook praised as Spinster was working on a vehicon with a rather large cut on his chest that occurred when the gravity came back on with Dreadwing looking over him with crossed arms and a scowl and Scavenger checking on the medical supplies to see how they were doing. Dreadwing noticed that some injured vehicons were not going to Spinster and talking to them revealed Spinster turned them away because he said that ‘They don’t look too bad. Just let it auto-heal.’ Dreadwing responded by calmly explaining (read: threaten in the most calm and demure tone possible for the retarded genius) and he agreed to do so, even though he still seemed confused at what was wrong with them. Dreadwing had the feeling that this was less because he was a complete idiot in all things surgery related and more because he was trying to stave off work. Which, to be fair, he has had to overwork someone who barely did anything back when things were normal, but that was still no reason for him to refuse helping.

“He is one of the best medics I’ve seen, even if he isn’t even officially labeled as one,” Dreadwing told him.

“Why hasn’t he become one?” Hook asked him.

“Because he’s severally lacking in the mental faculties,” the commander told him. “He can do everything a medic does without knowing exactly what the frag he’s doing. It’s highly frustrating.”

“How interesting,” Hook said, sounding genuinely intrigued and disgusted at the same time. “Quite the idiotic savant.”

“Correct,” he said as he saw the assault group come in with their gas masks on. “Are you ready to set out?”

“Yes, we are. However, before we do so, we need to cover our wounds,” Dead End confirmed as he pointed out his and Killshot’s wounds.

“I’ll do it,” Hook said before addressing his partner. “Scavenger, get the gauze.”

“While you’re at it, get some anti-bacterial gel,” Killshot told him.

“Good idea. Got some anti-bacterial gel as well,” Hook ordered his assistant and he did so, checking the supplies and returning with them. “Good. Let me patch you guys up.”

“While you do that, I’ll check on the radio. I think I hear someone contacting me again,” Dreadwing said as he walked off and let them take care of each other with one last order to his surgeon. “Don’t abandon your duties, Spinster!” Spinster barely registered it as Hook removed the cap on the gel, removed some with his fore-and-middle servos and applied some to Dead End’s bullet wound first, making him scowl even deeper as he felt it burning away at his wounds.

“Scavenger, you can apply the gauze, correct?” Hook questioned his assistant.

“Of course,” he answered quickly. “Want me to do that?”

“Yes, do so while I take care of Killshot,” he ordered as he removed some more gel and went over to Killshot, who braced himself for the pain. As Hook gently applied the substance, Killshot had an unpleasant expression on his face at the stinging sensation. Once he was finished, he let Scavenger applied the gauze after he was finished covering Dead End’s abdomen. After a few more seconds, he was done. “Right, you’re all done, although… Wildrider’s gauze doesn’t look very clean now. Should probably be replaced and have some more antibiotic gel on it.”

“Hey, if you want to, go crazy,” he said, offering his stump for them.

“Scavenger, cut that off,” Hook ordered. Scavenger grabbed went on over to the inventory to grab a pair of scissors and went on back to Wildrider. He went to work cutting the gauze, taking care not to injure him as he did so, and he removed it to show his savaged stump with wires and pieces of metal sticking out. “Ugh, not pretty,” Hook murmured as he began applying the gel. “This is going to require a couple of surgeries before you can have another arm,” he told him.

“Meh, wouldn’t be the first,” he shrugged as he felt the stinging feeling in the stump before Scavenger applied some fresh gauze.

“Right, all done,” Scavenger said. “You like that, Hook?” he questioned, looking for approval.

“Well done, Scavenger,” Hook approved and Scavenger gave a small smile at that as Dreadwing came back.

“Right, are you all done?” Dreadwing questioned them.

“Yeah, we should be ready to head out,” Skywarp told him.

“Good. Please hurry. I’ve just been informed that the reinforcements will be here in about a megacycle and want that gas to be gone by the time they get here,” he told them.

“Really? Than we got to hurry,” Killshot told them. “The gas could affect them while they help us take back the ship.”

“Exactly. Good luck,” Dreadwing told them with a salute. “I have confidence that you will succeed.”

“Aw, thanks Dready for heaving such faith in us,” Wildrider thanked him. “I assure you, we’ll kill everything on the way there.”

“What he said,” Killshot agreed. “Thanks for helping us out.”

“It’s you that I need to thank for coming to out rescue,” Dreadwing told them. “I don’t know if we would’ve survived this long without you. If it wasn’t for you, I think we would’ve died by now, so I owe my life to all of you.”

“Huh, how grand,” Dead End muttered, “but it’s unnecessary. We’re just following orders.” 

“And I’m grateful that you follow them like loyal soldiers,” Dreadwing told them. “I know not everyone will follow the orders given to them, but you’re done so and rather than run away from the problem when you realized how bad it was, you stay and fought. For that, you deserve all the praise I can give you.” At that, the group all stood around nervously, not used to such praise.

“Right, this is getting way too sappy for us,” Killshot said. “Let’s just get going. We don’t have a lot of time to kill. Later, Dreadwing.” With that, the assault team left, leaving the rest behind.

“Are you actually being sincere about that whole speech,” Hook asked Dreadwing.

“Yes, I am,” he confirmed. “Without you, I genuinely believe me and the rest of my crew wouldn’t be alive right now.”

“That’s… that’s nice,” Scavenger said, giving a wide smile. “I’m not used to compliments.”

“I’ve never seen a smile like that on your face before,” Hook noticed with a smile himself.

“I’m smiling?” he asked as it went away and examined his face. “It doesn’t feel like I’m smiling.” Hook sighed before giving a playful slap on the back of the head.

“Don’t worry about it, you fragging dope,” he told him with a chuckle. “I assure you, things will get better when we get out of here and you’ll smile a lot more.”

* * *

 

Shockwave examined the files on a console that wasn’t in the best of shape. Most of what he could find were files about the daily operations of the ship and prisoner files, as well as footage from the ship that he didn’t have time for. It wasn’t particularly useful, so this wasn’t ending up as a fruitful endeavor.

“ _Hey, Shockwave. You there?_ ” Swindle questioned him on the comms.

“Yes, I am. What do you need?” the scientist asked him.

“ _I deal in information, so you think you can get me some off that ship?_ ” Swindle questioned him.

“I’ve found some. I’ll download it and give it to you back on the ship. I haven’t found anything of value, so I’ll leave it to you to find something,” he told him.

“ _My specialty,_ ” he cheered.  “ _See you then._ ” He signed off, leaving Shockwave by himself, which he was happy for. He went to work downloading it to his memory banks, taking a jack already in the console to the port in the back of his neck and proceeded to download it.

“Are you downloading scrap?” Misfire said as he appeared from nowhere and rested his hands on the console on the other side of Shockwave.

“I’m downloading something, but it isn’t scrap,” he told him.

“Huh-huh,” he muttered with a look on his face that showed he was bored senseless.

“Do you need something?” Shockwave asked him.

“Not really. Just bored,” he told him.

“Then alleviate your boredom somehow,” Shockwave recommended.

“Alright, than let’s talk. You know about the friendly fire incident, right?” he asked him.

“Yes, I do. Are you going to deny it?” he questioned him.

“Nah, just, I don’t remember all of it and I’m still confused about something,” Misfire told him.

“What is it that troubles you?” Shockwave questioned him.

“How exactly did I kill Blackout?” he said, thinking it through.

“He was shot multiple times by you,” he told him.

“I know that’s what the reports said, but I sure don’t remember it and my dreams don’t think I did,” the ex-actor told him.

“Your… dreams?” Shockwave questioned.

“Robots dream of electric sheep, so why not,” he shrugged. “You see, I had this weird fragger in my dreams a couple of times. This red and white dude with like his spark visible in his chest. He’s very weird.”

“Your dreams sound very odd,” Shockwave noticed.

“No scrap. I try to follow him and talk to him, but every time I do, he disappears and I’m led back to the battlefield.”

“So what does this have to do with Blackout?” Shockwave asked him.

“Every time, he makes me relieve a death I caused at that damn thing, but he never showed me killing Blackout, even though he’s shown me killing everyone else several time. I just find it so weird that I can never recall that,” Misfire told him and Shockwave did give it legitimate thought. Misfire’s dreams were way too odd to be ignore, but what was the point of it. He killed everyone there, so why leave out Blackout?

“It is a very odd mystery,” Shockwave agreed. “Congratulations, I’m intrigued. I want to look into this myself.”

“You do?” Misfire asked, shocked.

“I have spare time. Who knows, maybe the results will be an answer worth searching for,” Shockwave agreed.

“Oh, uh, thanks,” he thanked him. “Most people would assume it’s just the drugs speaking, but I’m sure there’s more to it than that.”

“That could be a possible solution, but we can’t discount any possibilities just because we have one possible answer,” Shockwave told him. “Who knows? The answer could be quite a revelation for you.”

“I hope so. I mean, I don’t doubt that I killed him, but I just want to know why I can’t remember killing him,” he said. “My memory of the whole incident is a bit flighty.”

“There is a logical answer to everything. I’m sure we’ll come up with a solution, so take the time to find information on it from wherever you can.,” Shockwave advised him.

“Sure thing. Secrets of the mind: prepare to get cracked by the team of Shockwave and Misfire!” the ex-actor said dramatically.

“I see you haven’t loss your touch for the theatrical,” he noticed. “Remember, this requires involvement from you as well as me. We’re the two scientists on the ship, so I hope you recognize the value of cooperation.”

“You got it, partner,” Misfire said as he walked off. “We’ll meet up and talk about it on the ship.” Shockwave watched him leave before giving a remark to himself.

“And so another mystery shows itself. I wonder what secrets we shall reveal,” he said to himself as he proceeded with the download. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't believe I got fluff going on with Hook and Scavenger. It's a bit too cute for me. I'm also pretty sure this is the first genuine smile from Scavenger as well.


	62. Cleansing the Air PT 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Figured it's been long enough. A bit short, but I just really wanted a chapter out. Next one will be quite a bit longer. Hopefully, the next chapter won't take a year to release.

“Alright, last chance to load up,” Killshot told his group as he looked his shotgun over and checked his gas mask while the Vehicons were moving the barricade for them. “You don’t want a malfunction in the middle of the fight. Could easily get you killed.”

“My, you’re _so_ smart,” Skywarp mocked him as he made sure his mask was fitted on tightly. “I never could’ve known getting my gun jammed in the middle of a fight could be so hazardous.” Killshot scoffed at that, annoyed.

“Just giving advice,” the sniper responded to him. “Things are getting serious here. I just want to make sure we suffer no casualties.”

“Killshot makes a fine point. This is the last objective we have before we’re able to leave,” Dead End stated as he placed a placating hand on Skywarp’s shoulder. “We’re almost out of here.”

“Aw, leaving so soon?” Wildrider asked. “We’ve just said hi! I wanted to talk more about our lives.”

“Another time, Wildrider. Another time,” Dead End sighed. “I’m busy right now. Got a lot of work to do. We’ll be visiting the DJD next.”

“Those scary slaggers?” Wildrider asked. “Why you’re doing something so stupid?”

“Orders from Megatron,” Dead End stated.

“Oh… so you have the decision between walking to death or suicide,” Wildrider said in layman terms.

“Roughly enough, yes.”

“Hey, we haven’t done anything to incite the DJD’s wrath,” Killshot pointed out, pointing his finger at the cynic. “We’re obviously going there for other reasons, although I do wonder what it is that he wants us to do. It’s very puzzling.”

“No kidding. Why do we need to go see them?” Skywarp wondered. “Just going to some base, right?”

“Yeah. A place called Delphi on Messatine,” Dead End stated. “Wonder why we have to go there?”

“Yeah… well, we’ll think about it later. Let’s get to work cleansing the air so that we can take these ridiculous gas masks off,” Killshot ordered. “Once we get that done, we can depart from here and continue on our journey.”

“Right, of course,” Dead End nodded as the Vehicons finished removing the barricade.

“All good, sirs! We’ll close this off after you leave,” one of the vehicons said to them.

“Great. Let’s go,” Killshot ordered as he poked his head out to look down the dark, dilapidated hallway. He flicked on the flashlight to his shotgun to see more clearly around the area for any threats. Upon a quick look around, he gave the signal that it was safe and moved ahead into the hallway. Dead End followed behind next with his gestaltmate right behind him and Skywarp bringing up the rear, all of them with their flashlights on. As they left they could hear the door closing behind them, the Vehicons moving to barricade the door again. “Alright, guns up. I’ll lead us to where me and my group was exploring.”

“After you,” Dead End said and Killshot nodded as they all headed down the corridor.

* * *

 

*Beep* *Beep*

“Hmm…?” Swindle hums as he heard a beep and looked at his console. “A massage from Barricade? Huh.” Swindle clicked on it and examined the message.

_Swindle. Found the guy you were looking. Black-and-red seeker named Bombline, correct? He’s here on Talos Four. He was involved in an incident here and brought in for questioning. He has been released, but judging by what I’ve heard, he’ll be leaving soon. If you want him, you better hurried over here. Contact me before you arrive and I’ll see if I can arrange for you to land. I know it’s difficult for a Decepticon ship to land here legally. Also, from what information I’ve gathered, it sounds like he’ll be leaving soon. He’s just here for supplies. Could be gone by tomorrow._

“Huh… interesting,” Swindle said with a sly smile. “Always a reliable source of information.” The merchant hummed happily to himself for pausing and rereading the note. “Tomorrow?! Gah...,” Swindle groaned as he slumped in his chair ranted to himself. “If the DJD wastes too much of our time, we might not be able to make it. Talos Four is also in the opposite direction of Messatine. It’ll take so long to reach it.” He kicked the console in grustration a couple of times before sighing again and typing a reply to him.

_Barricade. Gather as much information as you can on them. I’m stuck doing errands for Megatron right now and have to complete them or else risk his ire. It’s very likely that I won’t be able to get there before they leave. Get the information in any way you can. Do this and I’ll pay you a considerable bonus._

Swindle sent the message to Barricade and sighed as he waited for a response. Within seconds, a response came back

_Can do. I’ll send another message one I’m done gathering data. I expect a rather favorable payment from you for this._

Swindle responded back.

_Thank you, Barricade. You were always one of my favorites. Still am._

With that done, Swindle relaxed in his chair again. “Well, can’t wait to chew Megatron out for these errands when we could’ve gone to Talos Four right now,” Swindle said with a sardonic chuckled. “Should’ve sent someone else to carry these errands out instead of us.” Swindle sighed as he relaxed before hearing it beep again as Dreadwing was trying to contact him again. He quickly answered it. “Yeah, Dreadwing?”

“ _A squad has moved out to get rid of the toxic air_ ,” Dreadwing told him. “ _Killshot, Dead End, Skywarp have all left as well as Wildrider._ ”

“Understood. I’ll make sure to keep in contact with them,” Swindle said as he prepared himself. “Thanks for telling me.”

“ _You are welcome,_ ” Dreadwing said as he got off and left Swindle by himself as he contacted his crew.

“ _Killshot, you’re there?_ ” Swindle asked the sniper as him and his group went down a stairwell.

* * *

 

“Yeah, I’m here. I’m heading down a staircase right now. To be specific, I’m at stairwell B, floor 3,” Killshot told him.

“ _You were on floor 5, where the generators,_ ” Swindle told him.

“I remembered,” Killshot snapped at him as they reached the fourth floor.

“ _Just a reminder,_ ” Swindle told him. “ _Once you reach the entrance to the second floor, just head forward. You should reach the location you were exploring back then and be able to find the crate._ ”

“Understood. We’ll make sure to keep in contact with you,” Killshot told him.

“ _Stay safe,_ ” Swindle told him.

“Will do.”

Killshot went back to concentrating on what was in front of him as they reached the fifth floor and opened up the door to look into the hallway. It was empty with darkness all around being lit up by small emergency lights. He stuck his head out to look left and right as well to find much of the same, only with a couple of dead bodies on the right side.

“All clear,” Killshot said as he moved forward. “Stay close and watch out for the creatures.” The other three gave a short reply of agreement as they started to move through the hallway. Every moved their guns around, taking care to look at any hidden areas the creatures could be, especially the vents. As they walked, they could hear the creaking of the metal as they walked and what sounded like faint scrapping sounds from above and below.

“Frag, this is creepy,” Wildrider murmured as he looked up everywhere. “I have no idea how the pits you guys managed to get through this ship so far.”

“It sure wasn’t easy,” Dead End told him. “We fell for their trap in an elevator and Killshot got his wounds as a result.”

“You did? Damn, that sucks,” Wildrider grumbled.

“No kidding. He was stab in his shoulder.”

“Hmm… and what about you?”

“I got shot by a prisoner on the ship,” Dead End told him. “Seaspray was his name.”

“That green wrecker?” Wildrider asked.

“Dude’s yellow,” Skywarp told him.

“Green as in new,” Wildrider specified. “He was inducted into the Wreckers just a couple of years ago. I’m surprised they’re still taking new members, especially from a seacraft of all thing. They’re not very useful. They’ll just waddle around in the water.”

“Well, I can tell you he’s a good shot,” Dead End growled as he put a hand to his abdomen. “I walked into the gravity room first and got shot as a result of it.”

“Thanks for taking the bullet,” Killshot remarked in a harsh whisper. “Will you two be quiet and concentrate on the matter at hand.”

“Hold on, real quick. He was in the gravity generator room? How the pit did he get from the cells to there?” Wildrider asked. “That place is on the ninth floor on the other side of the damn ship.”

“Really now?” Skinner asked interested but not turning his head away from what was in front of him. “Could be that he got lucky and managed to get to the gravity room unharmed.”

“No fragging way. This ship is really hard to get around if you don’t know where everything is,” Wildrider said. “Hmm… I’ll have to stop by the prison after this for any info. There’s something fishy about this and not the dynamoduck kind.”

“It does sound odd,” Dead End agreed. “Tell me, how does your prison run, Wildrider?”

“Each prisoner gets their own cell in isolation from the others and are fed three cubes of energon a day,” Wildrider told him. “Each cell has a small hole to allow contact with the prisoners net to them and only them, so they don’t get completely mad from the isolation.”

“Are they ever allow out of their cells?” Skywarp asked.

“They shouldn’t be, but some rumors are out there that the SIC, Crosswind, takes people out of their cells for some… ‘personal time’ in his room,” Wildrider told them.

“Personal time?” Skinner asked, disgust in his voice. “Was that slagheap doing what I’m thinking he was doing?”

“Most likely. He pays people off to keep Dreadwing from knowing about it. If the captain knew about it, he threw him in a cell. He frowns upon that sort of conduct,” Wildrider told them. “I know some people think I’m out there, but I have my limits.”

“Those creatures had better killed the fragger,” Skywarp growled.

“We haven’t heard from him since this happen, so we assume he is,” Wildrider stated. “Much deserved in my opinion. Only wish I could’ve given him some of my payback. I’d do to him what he did to the prisoners.”

“Hmph, got the slightest bit of power and he abused it immediately. What a disgusting mech,” Dead End growled.

“Yes, but good news! With him and several others dead, I’m sure I’m next in line for second-in-command!” Wildrider cheered.

“…That is officially the scariest thing about this ship.”


End file.
